Switched Around
by PromisedAngel
Summary: The three ancient goddesses of Hyrule have decided to switch the hero and the princess for a life. Zelda grew up in the Kokiri forest. Link grew as the Prince of Hyrule. Basic switched character story, elements of game, manga, and author's creation.
1. Chapter 1

I was in the middle of playing Ocarina of Time when this idea hit me, basically Zelda and Link switch and Ruto is now a boy (I just think it would be insane with royalty and I don't want Ruto to go through that bull). All Triforce Pieces will still go to their owners so don't worry about that. One last thing before the disclaimer; there will be elements of the game, the manga, and some of my own creation in this story!

I origionally wanted to post this later, but my readers really needed an update and I already had this ready.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (or any other Zelda games), it belongs to Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo®. This story is meant for entertainment purposes only and any event/details that does not correspond to the game and/or manga is of the author's own creation and shall not be used without consent. Thank you and enjoy the story.

**Prologue**

Within a land unreachable to mortals lie three beings of varied color. The three "Golden Goddesses" they were called by their creations were actually not golden at all; at most only the jewelry of wristbands, ankle bands, earrings, and necklaces were golden. In truth they each had a sharp different color to them. The first was Din, creator of the earth in which beings lived on, she was primarily red, including her skin but there were many shades of red on her. Nayru, spreader of law to the land, was mostly a deep blue. Lastly Farore, the creator of all the beings whom uphold those laws, was a forest green. All three goddesses wore different garments of their corresponding color. Din wore a golden lined band as her top to fully cover her breasts, leaving her belly exposed. Unlike her sisters Din chooses to wear pants that end above her ankle bands. Nayru wore a long halter dress of a turquoise blue body and the upper part that supported her breasts was a darker blue. She also wore many bands along her arms and wrists. Farore a more complex dress than Nayru, some parts seemed to be remnants of armor on her left shoulder, her lower arms, and the right side of her chest. Over her dress seemed to be a long, see through green skirt. One thing the three goddesses had in common was a golden circlet on each of their foreheads all were of very simple design.

One day Farore was looking upon the land with an almost bored expression on her face; usually this was fixed easily by the events of the bearer of her side of the Triforce fulfilling the prophecy for a generation. However the idea of it happening over and over occurred to her and she realizes it would soon become stale. She did not want something she deeply enjoyed to become stale and not entertaining. It was time for a change, she thought, but what could be changed?

Nayru and Din paid no heed to their sister's sadness, Nayru had the task of managing all the laws of the world and time itself, forcing her to know of every outcome of something she saw on the land below. It was a tiring thing but she has managed this task for as long as she could remember and felt that there was no need for change. Din, on the other hand, wanted some change. All of the earthquakes and changing of the land caused this; she could not do much to the weather without her sisters' help. But still she was content with seeing the prophecy of each generation unfold despite the fact it was the bearer of her side of the Triforce who causes it. In fact she enjoys that her bearer causes this change so she cannot grow tired of what she must do.

Farore, out of nowhere, had an idea. Looking away from the world below she floated over to Nayru with a smile beaming from her face.

"Nayru… oh Nayru dear!" Farore said as she went close to her sister. Nayru looked at Farore in confusion, "What is it? Did you mess something up again?"

"No more than how you mess up all of time and law," Farore retorted, slightly annoyed, "I just thought of a way to make the prophecy of our bearers more interesting."

Nayru's eyebrow went up, signaling her curiosity. She faced Farore and spoke, "Do tell,"

Farore looked over to where Din was, minding her own business, then looked back to Nayru.

"What if our bearers… switched places?" Farore whispered with a happy tone. Nayru blinked her eyes at the thought, "You mean… the princess and the hero?"

Farore nodded, "Think of it! We need to see something new, and if it doesn't work we can fix it, what do you say, sister?"

Nayru closed her eyes and tipped her head upwards as to look through time at possibilities. She gazed through time for a minute then opened her eyes to see Farore patiently waiting. Nayru smiled, "Looks promising,"

Farore's waiting expression brightened to excitement at Nayru's acceptance of her idea.

"I'll get started right away!" Farore said in cheer.

"Started on what?" Another voice said, a more commanding than Farore or Nayru but they knew who it was; it was their sister Din. They looked at their fiery red sister whom stood next to them with her arms crossed, she looked at them for a few seconds before speaking, and "You know that we all need to talk about all changes. What are you two changing?"

Farore gulped, knowing the last time a change was made without telling the others. But she knew Din would find out eventually so it would be best to tell her.

"I thought about switching the princess and the hero to make the prophecy interesting this time around," Farore said nervously.

Din perked her eyebrow but it almost immediately went down, "You're not changing one thing!"

Farore's nervous face changed to sadness; her idea was rejected and she knew that her favorite event would become boring to her and she would cause the world to be boring in turn. She was about to float away before she saw Din smirk.

"Not without me putting in changes of my own," Din said. Nayru's mouth dropped, she didn't think Din would like the idea of changing the prophecy, but then again her bearer caused the changes needed for the prophecy to go underway. After a huge discussion Farore and Nayru went underway to change many a things so that the princess would be born the hero and the hero would be born a prince.

**Chapter 1: The Great Deku Tree**

_Flames and war have ravaged this land for years, and I've done a horrible thing bringing a newborn into such bloodshed. I was naïve and in love, I did not think about what would happen until after the act was done and I was pregnant with my little girl. The only land not affected by this war was the forbidden forest; the land of the Great Deku Tree and it's children, The Kokiri. For a time my babe would accepted among the children as one of their own, and hopefully it would be enough time for this seemingly endless war to end. As for myself, I'm a widow and soon to become a Stalfos when I lose myself in the woods after I carry my babe to The Great Deku Tree, I won't make it out of the forest myself. But that will be fine, as long as my babe carries on._

A cloaked woman thought this as she made her way to the south of the land that would soon be known as Hyrule. Her brown-backed horse was tired and drenched by the rain, but still didn't give in to fatigue as most horses tend to do. The woman held the reigns tightly with one hand and in the other arm was a small tangle of cloth, or at least that's what some would see. In truth it was a babe, probably no older than a few days, weeks at the most, and it was crying as rain drenched the land and calmed the fires that burned it. Lighting flashed and thunder crashed as she made her way through a large field often used as grounds for battle. The stench of blood held in the air as crows came along looking for a meal of corpses. Some were following her as if she would fall off the horse at any second and die, but she still pressed on in the darkness of the stormy night. Little did she know she was being followed, the other horse was covered by the sounds of thunder and the baby crying in response to it. After a few hours the woman could finally see the entrance to the Lost Woods and whipped her horse to make it go faster. To her dismay the horse neighed, stopped at the entrance and threw her off making her tumble into the forest. The woman was able to roll in order for there to be no huge injury for herself or the babe she held now with two arms. She looked through the first line of trees to see her horse was galloping north to get far from the forest; no turning back now. It was this time, before she turned to head deeper into the woods, that she finally saw that she was being pursued by a cloaked figure also on horseback. The horse the figure rode seemed more disciplined and therefore would run into the woods unlike hers. She started to sprint into the woods, away from the horse-mounted figure, and prayed to the goddesses she was going the right way. She did not know how long she ran until she heard a bowstring being pulled back close behind her. She then felt and arrow pass by here legs and hints of crimson liquid flow down her leg from the small wound. She did not stop no matter how many scrapes she got; she had to find The Deku Tree, but she could get the sense of that she was going to turn into a Stalfos. For a second she forgot why she was running, why she was in these woods, and why she was carrying her own baby. The woman was able to snap back to reality by an arrow being shot into her left thigh. She fell against a tree but managed to make sure her babe wasn't injured; an injury so young most certainly means death. The figure on the horse that has been pursuing her finally stopped the horse a few yards in front of her. The figure was dressed in a full body black cloak, not that it would have mattered since the darkness of the forest at night could hide any features other than the shape of the body. From what she saw this figure was tall and kind of muscular, that's all she could really tell. The figure dismounted his black steed and walked up to the woman; for a moment there were no words between the two. Then the figure spoke in a deep, masculine voice, "Give me the babe and your life shall be spared,"

The woman tightened her hold on the softly crying baby in her arms, signaling she would not give it up, "This child belongs to the Deku Tree now!"

Through the hood the woman could see a smile appear on the figure's shadow covered face, "The hard way it is, so be it,"

The woman backed up against the tree and found something at her leg and immediately knew what it was, a Deku Nut. She heard of this used as a weapon to temporarily blind and paralyze an enemy; it could buy her enough time to get to the Deku Tree where the baby girl would be safe. She saw as a figure approached her to forcefully take the baby from her and she reacted by getting the Deku Nut up against her leg, closing her eyes and throwing on the ground where a bright light came out. When the woman opened her eyes the figure was on it's back and the horse was gone, probably frightened by the light. Before she got up she quickly searched the forest floor around her and found five more Deku Nuts, just in case. It was painful and slow getting up but she managed just in time to notice the figure starting to stir, and throwing a Deku Nut right now would do no good. She immediately started jogging, as it was the best she could do with and arrow in her thigh. As she ran she heard that raindrops above were slowly coming to a stop and the night was beginning to end. That didn't stop her one bit; in fact she now had a trail to follow because the fairies in the trees were starting to awaken from their slumber, and most fairies from the forest are born from the areas around the Deku Tree, meaning she wasn't far off from it! She tried jogging until she fell over on her side then reached to break the arrow. She screamed in pain as a response and pulled it out. After a short breather she carried her child away at a faster pace than previously.

She soon heard the sound of arrows again, she even felt one go past her head; the figure was conscious again. She ran with all her might and saw there was a clearing ahead but as she ran into the clearing she was shot in the back and the arrow stuck on her right side above her babe's head. She fell and rolled into the clearing to see a round meadow with a huge tree, a child, and a fairy that circled the child. The child looked at her in confusion but did not dare to approach her.

"Who dares enter this scared meadow of my children?" A loud and powerful voice boomed out of the middle of the meadow and the woman realized that the voice came from the tree; she had made it to the Great Deku Tree. She smiled as she started to drag herself towards the tree with one of her arms holding her babe.

"Great Deku Tree," The woman started, "I've come to beg you! Please, take this child and shelter her! Raise her as if she were one of your own!"

The child, or as she guessed the Kokiri, approached her slowly and gazed at the cloth the woman now held up to the Great Deku Tree.

"What are you doing?" The fairy of the red haired girl said. The girl paid no heed to her fairy and took the cloth and unwrapped around the head to see a blonde baby girl with sparkling sapphire eyes. The Kokiri girl stared to stare at the child in her arms and become happy. The fairy of the red-haired girl approached the babe, who started to stare in wonder at the fairy.

"It's… a baby…" The fairy stated with a bit of confusion.

"Oh please Great Deku Tree, I shall take care of her!" The red haired Kokiri pleaded.

"This child…I don't think I could refuse it," The Great Deku Tree spoke in a shocked but slightly submissive tone. The woman looked up to the tree, smiled, and started weeping, "Thank you, thank you so much."

The woman then tried to stand despite how much blood she has lost. The red haired Kokiri gasped, "Please miss, don't strain yourself!"

The woman was now standing, "No, I know I won't be able to leave this forest. If you will help me then lead me to the Forest Temple so I may turn in peace,"

"I can't do that miss, I don't know where it is," The red haired girl said before she turned away from the woman and unwrapped the babe from the cloth. She found many leaves and covered the babe in them as if they were a set of clothes. She then approached the Deku Tree and placed her at the roots of the tree where a soft sound has been emitting the whole time, the sound of soft crying. The woman realized that the next generation of Kokiri was just recently born and that she came at a greatly convenient of a time. After her revelation she felt another arrow go through her, but this time through her heart. She then fell to the ground in labored breathing that was silenced in a matter of moments. The figure that was chasing her emerged into the clearing causing the Kokiri child in the clearing to back up near her father in fear.

"Being of evil, you dare come to the scared ground and murder?" The Great Deku Tree roared at the figure to see it step forward a few more paces until it spoke, "Where is the Hylian child?"

"You'll only find the Kokiri in these woods," The red haired girl yelled. The figure looked at her briefly but did nothing until the ground shook again. Roots came out of the ground and smashed the figure into what looked to be a mist; it was not of physical form.

"The evil is banished, it shall not bother us again," The Great Deku Tree.

"What of the mother?" the red haired girl asked, gazing at the woman and the pool of blood.

"Bury her near the temple, Fami knows the way," The Great Deku Tree said, "and Sibela, get your brothers and sisters, the Ceremony of Names must soon begin,"

"Yes, Great Deku Tree," the red haired girl, Sibela, said and rushed out of the meadow with her fairy close behind to the village of her brothers and sisters.

After Fami, a short girl with shoulder length brown hair returned from the Scared Forest Meadow, the area around the Forest Temple, all the Kokiri and their fairies were gathered in the meadow of the Great Deku Tree which was now filled with not only Kokiri and their fairies, but also fairies that have not claimed a person. Some Kokiri held the babes that were previously at the base of the Great Deku Tree. Sibela was holding the Hylian girl, but no one except her and the Deku Tree knew it wasn't a Kokiri babe.

"The next generation shall always be named by the previous, step forth if you have chosen to take care of a child until they are ready! First a boy with coal black hair stepped forward, carrying an orange haired boy in his arms. He stopped a few yards away from the Deku Tree and held up the child.

"I hereby proclaim this child as Mido!" The black haired boy proclaimed in a commanding voice. Immediately one of the fairies that circled above went down to the child and started circling the babe signaling that a bond was made. This was an uncommon event; few of those who were named rarely had their fairies on the day they were named.

Fami was next up, get held a green haired girl in her arms. She made the same gesture as the black haired boy and spoke, "I proclaim this child as Saria!"

A fairy did not come to the child, but it didn't come as a surprise; the fairy was simply not born yet.

After a few more children were named Sibela was up, she held up the child and smiled at it instead of having a serious look as most did when they named the next generation, "I hereby proclaim this child as Zelda!"

No fairy came down from the treetops as expected, but Sibela knew the true reason why no fairy had come. Hopefully no one would have to know; at least not until they all had reached the Age of Immortality.

The Ceremony of Names soon ended and the Kokiri went back to their homes carved out of trees and some caves. Many of the homes have entrances on the ground and didn't go over one story, but there were some few tree houses. Sibela went to a tree house near the edge of the village, a ways from both common entrances to the forest and from the Deku Tree's Meadow. She suddenly knew it would be difficult carrying a babe up a ladder and Zelda couldn't grip the way needed yet. She had an idea on how to get her upstairs. Sibela left the child down at the bottom of the latter and climbed up fast. She looked above her doorway and saw a green cloth that was quite large but it would work with a couple of folds. She tore it down, thankfully it did not tear, and folded it a couple times then tied it around her waist; one side tightly then one side tight but went out more. This way she could carry Zelda up the latter with ease. She quickly climbed down and saw that her fairy was entertaining Zelda while she was gone; it was a nice thing for Tila to do. Sibela thought that Tila didn't like babes but this disproved her theory.

"I sure hope that's tight," Tila chimed in a sweet voice. Sibela smiled, "don't worry, it is,"

Sibela held Zelda in her arms and placed her in the pocket she made and climbed the latter with much ease. Sibela sighed at her success and placed Zelda onto her bed, one she was going to have to share with Zelda for some years until she was old enough to have a bed herself. Often Sibela wondered about taking up a child so she could cuddle with it at night, giving a sort of comfort for the both of them. She smiled at the thought her nights of cuddling could begin this night despite it wasn't a Kokiri babe she was keeping.

Her thoughts turned to how the child was going to grow in the society, once Zelda turned to the age when the Kokiri stopped aging, they would notice that she was still growing and therefore know she wasn't a Kokiri; how would they react? How would they think about her when her fairy doesn't come? But what if the Hylian actually becomes a Kokiri, cursed never to leave the forest and visit her land of heritage? Sibela herself used to be a Hylian, many years ago. It's probably been so long that everyone she knew was long since dead. Like many before her she had wandered into the forest and found the Kokiri thus being saved from becoming a Skull Kid, the end result of a Hylian child being lost forever in the Lost Woods. All thoughts eventually lulled her to sleep with Zelda in her arms. She needed such rest for tomorrow her long parenthood began.

Defiantly a long chapter for me, but I'm working on length!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Adventure Begins**

Ten years have passed since the infant Zelda came into Sibela's care. The Kokiri tribe has not suspected her of not being one of them. Although the child has been ridiculed for being a "Fairless Kokiri" especially by the new head of the tribe, Mido. But all is well in the forest one clear, starry night. However within the confines of a very different place to the north, one boy does not sleep well. Within a stone room a boy laid in a lavish bed, decorated with gold and blue ornaments and sheets. The boy was probably the same age as Zelda if not a bit older and had the same blonde hair and blue eyes, although his hair was more of a dirty blonde. He tossed and he turned, freighted by a nightmare he was having.

Within the confines of his dream the boy saw dark clouds across a stone town, they expanded to the mountains in the east and to the valley in the west. While all the land was covered in darkness he heard a laugh towards the north of the stone town and saw a stone structure, grander than the buildings of the village, crumble and be replaced by a black tower. The boy cried out, distraught by the event showed to him and turned away from the north and to the south where the forest lay. He saw a light. The light shot into the clouds and parted them without hesitation. The ground lit up in response. The light turned into a figure, no, two figures of very different size. The larger figure was a girl with blonde hair, he could not see her eyes, and she was dressed in a green short dress. In her hand was a green gem surrounded by golden linings. Floating by the girl from what he could see was a simple blue orb with wings, a fairy.

The boy abruptly woke from his dream sweating and panting heavily. He sat up in his bed trying to remember every detail of his dream; once he did he breathed his final heavy breath for the night.

"That dream again," He spoke, slightly shaken, "Clearer than ever."

He tightened his grip on his sheets, "But what does it mean?"

He continued his thoughts of the dream until he fell into slumber once again, he did not have another dream for the rest of the night.

Far to the south within the Kokiri's village Zelda tossed and turned at a dream of her very own. It was night and she was in they sky, flying high above a glowing town made of stone. In the dream she noticed she had a sword and shield on her back, a boomerang at her side along with a slingshot and a large bag. What was inside of the bag she did not know, nor did she care for her attention was at the town, which was ravaged by flames and fighting. She flew over the fighting and to an extraordinary building, grander than the others and was about to land, her memory of the dream seemed to skip because she was then in front of the castle and holding another item.

She turned around to see a figure, she could not tell a thing about this figure or merely could not remember. All she remembered was being knocked to the ground and then the figure was gone.

Zelda woke up with a gasp the breathed almost heavily. Her now long, past shoulder height hair flared with the sudden movement and went past her shoulders to rest upon them. She was wearing a simple green dress that went to her knees and socks could be seen if one removed the bed sheets.  
"That dream again?" A voice asked from her right side. It was Sibela, who hadn't changed at all over the last ten years. Zelda looked over to her caretaker for the past ten years and merely nodded.  
"It's clearer than ever, but still the figure is a blur," Zelda said as she held her head as if she had a slight headache, "It's really getting annoying,"

"I suppose it's time to ask the Deku Tree about it again," Sibela said. Zelda sighed, "Every time I bring it up he says to think nothing of it,"

"Perhaps he has a reason?" Sibela got up from her own bed and sat with Zelda, hoping to comfort her.

"If he does I hope it's a good one," Zelda pouted, making Sibela laugh.

"We better get some rest, tomorrow is a good day," Sibela said with a smile. She then left to sleep in her own bed, leaving Zelda to stare at the wall.

"What good is tomorrow if I don't have a fairy?" Zelda thought before she fell back to sleep.

Morning rose through the leaves onto the forest floor, waking the Kokiri from their nightly slumber. Many went exploring or to play, others just to watch as the day passes by them. Zelda and Sibela had work to do; it was the day Zelda would reach "The Age of Immortality" and yet she is without a fairy. Never has a Kokiri been without a fairy on this day, and several Kokiri have already bullied her for being different. All of these cases were lead by the Leader of the Kokiri, Mido. The previous was lost in the woods never to return again so the child that he raised was now leader. Many did not like his snobby attitude; Zelda just did not like him for obvious reasons and who could blame her? He pulled something on her almost every chance he had, but thankfully the Deku Tree stopped the fighting many a time.

The day was treated like another day, almost like a birthday but it still was more than that. On this day, Zelda would be treated like an 'adult' in the Kokiri society. Some are summoned by the Deku Tree on this day, the discussion usually involved the future of the Kokiri as a whole, so usually only the Leader of the Kokiri was summoned. There have been a few other occasions, but they were special and before Zelda's time.

Zelda walked onto the balcony of the tree house and made a deep sigh, she was not completely happy about this day, but with some optimism she hoped her fairy would come today.

"Zelda!" A girl's voice cried from bellow. Zelda looked down near the bottom of the latter to see it was her good friend Saria. Saria was probably the one that was nicest to her besides Sibela. Zelda carefully, but swiftly, descended down the latter to greet Saria where Saria grabbed her but the hands and pulled Zelda into a hug.

"Now you're officially a Kokiri," Saria then pulled away from her hug and frowned, "And yet a fairy still has not come,"

"I think one will come today, I can feel it!" Zelda knew she was lying through her teeth, she actually felt a little depressed. Her mood swings from hopeful to depressive, especially when the subject regards her non-existent fairy. Saria gave a kind smile before they started to walk into the woods, escaping the town before Mido did something to Zelda.

"What's back this way?" Zelda asked as Saria guided her further and further into the Lost Woods. Zelda was starting to get nervous, she started to think that they might not make it back to the village and they would become Skull Kids! She looked to Saria's focused face; she did not look lost at all. It was almost as if she knew the woods by heart.

"It's my secret spot, I've shown it to Sibela and I wanted this to be your present for today." Saria said kindly, still focusing on the never-changing path. Zelda smiled at this, it was nice enough getting her away from Mido but this was something more.

They eventually made it to a wall of rock with only a small cave opening near the center. Saria led Zelda inside and spoke, "Don't worry, it's just on the other side."

Many questions kept popping in Zelda's head, besides the most obvious she wondered about if anything was inside the cave. Many Kokiri have died by things they could not see before it was too late. In truth the "Age of Immortality" is just when they stop aging, they could die from being alive for so long, getting lost, wandering out of the woods, and being killed by many things. Some simply disappear without a trace; those strike fear into the usually calm Kokiri. Fortunately all this is learned after a Kokiri stops aging, otherwise Kokiri would be scared all their life and wouldn't be able to care for the next generation.

Saria noticed Zelda's worry but quickly reassured her before they went inside the cave. When they were surrounded by darkness Saria made a turn, again seeming to know the way by heart, thankfully Zelda grabbed her hand long before the tunnel. Eventually they felt the grass come up to their knees and they heard strange rustling sounds. Soon after the sounds were heard they stopped, seeming like something surfaced from the grass.

"Don't worry, it's me. I'm showing my friend the spot, little Deku Scrub." Saria spoke, revealing the source of the rustling to be a Deku Scrub. Deku were not born of the Deku Tree, but are theorized to be somehow related due to them be made of a wood–like flesh. The Deku Scrub seemed to make a rustling sound then let out a calm chirp-like sound that seemed to echo for a few seconds before Saria continued along. They past by many Deku Scrubs in the maze-like cave before Zelda even saw a spec of light that formed into a green hill surrounded on two sides by rock walls. Many fairies were flying around the area as Zelda was led up the hill where the sun peaked through the trees, making the fairies glow even more. Saria smiled at Zelda as she gasped at the scene, but the best was yet to come. Once the hill ended Zelda saw an entrance to some ruins suspended in the rock face and held up by come crumbling columns. The rock was grey and covering in vines and moss, but looks like it could still stand for a long time. Zelda took her eyes away from the ruins to see a strange symbol on the ground, made by the grass.

"This is where I go to relax," Saria said, finally letting go of Zelda's hand and went to sit down on a nearby rock.  
"Saria," Zelda paused, "Is this… the Forest Temple?"

Saria smiled, "It is. I can't explain why, but I feel so at peace here. It feels more like home than our village; sometimes I'm torn between the two."

Zelda sat down in the symbol in the grass and listened to Saria calmly as she continued, "But after seeing Mido do those things to you, I felt like all of the forest was home. I couldn't just abandon someone like that; it's cruel."

Saria then stood up and smiled, "Sibela made something for you,"

Zelda blinked her eyes in confusion as Saria reached in the tall grass behind the rock she was sitting on. She pulled out a simple wooden slingshot and a brown pouch. Zelda felt that the items were familiar, like she's seen them somewhere before. Saria handed Zelda the slingshot and the bag and opened the bag to reveal a bunch of small rocks and nuts, the ammo.

"Use this when Mido's getting to you. Right in the head, ok?" Saria said kindly. Zelda smiled in response and got a rock out from the bag and loaded it onto the slingshot. She faced a rock wall and saw a small hole. She fired at said hole and the rock filled up the hole, right on target.

"Wow, you're a natural!" Saria exclaimed, "I bet you could get some fruit from high up with that!"

"That's a great idea," Zelda commented in glee, "and I know just the place to get some!"

The two played for the rest of the day, gathering more rocks and nuts for the slingshot, taking a test shot at Mido, and gathering fruit from the treetops. Saria was right; Zelda was a natural! But their play ended and Zelda went back to her tree house at dusk for dinner. Sibela was waiting with some berries and fruit that Zelda helped pick because of her slingshot.

"You look like you had fun today," Sibela said in a motherly tone. Zelda smiled, nodded then set the slingshot on her bed, "Thanks for the slingshot,"

"You always had the idea of using one, took me quite a bit to find all those rocks. Not to mention I needed to find thick branch for it since I'm horrible at wood carving,"

Zelda let out a smile before she proceeded to tell about her day. The conversation took long enough for the sun to fully set, and for night to fully take hold of the forest. The Kokiri usually were asleep at this time, so they could awake at the next dawn.

Before dawn, something crawled its way into the forest and into the Great Deku Tree's Meadow. The Deku Tree immediately noticed the intruder and spoke in an angered voice, "Being of evil, you dare come to these lands?"  
The Deku Tree heard a hiss in response, but still could not see it as it could only see one side of the meadow. Soon the hiss formed into words, "The ssstone, where iss the Ssscared Sstone?"

The Deku Tree was immediately on guard, but to little use; the creature used magic on the Deku Tree and seemed to crawl inside it. The Deku Tree still knew what to do so its voice boomed, "Navi the fairy, come hither!"

A blue fairy came down from the treetops and waited for the Deku Tree to speak again, "Navi, the time has come. It is time for the Kokiri without a fairy to begin her journey! Fly to her, quickly!"

The fairy went off without a word, seeing many Kokiri starting to wake as dawn approached. She even saw someone with what looked to be a saw at the house she was suppose to go to. She decided to ignore it for now, getting the Kokiri was more important. Navi flew into the house and screamed into Zelda's ear, "WAKE UP!"

Zelda woke up with a start and looked to see something glowing beside her. She looked at it as it introduced itself, "I'm Navi the fairy!"

"Are you… my fairy?" Zelda said, stunned. At long last, a fairy had come to her.

"What's going on?" Sibela asked as Tila flew over to inspect Navi.

"A fairy came to Zelda!" Tila said in joy. Sibela's face lightened up with joy and pride, "Oh Zelda, I knew it was only a matter of time!"

"Yea, but-" Zelda was about to say something about Navi being late but Navi interrupted her.

"We don't have time for this! The Deku Tree has summoned you! I think it's really important!" Navi cried, "We have to go now!"

Zelda jumped out of her bed and grabbed her slingshot and ammo pouch and made her way out onto the balcony of the tree house. She heard a creaking sound before it collapsed and she fell onto a heap of wood. She heard a laugh in front of her and saw Mido. She cried out a name of the person in front of her then saw he was still laughing.

"That's what you get for hitting me with that new toy of yours!" Mido cackled. Zelda was mad but then Navi flew down and pushed Mido over.  
"You leave her alone! She needs to get going!" Navi yelled at Mido who looked at Navi stunned. Zelda go up and walked away, still wanting to hit him with her slingshot.

"Zelda…" Mido paused, still in disbelief, "Has a fairy?"

Within minutes Zelda arrived at the Deku Tree's Meadow. She felt a chill in the air, one that is not usually felt in the forest or meadow, the feeling that something is watching you. Though, this feeling has yet to be recognized by Zelda, instead it was just a suspicious feeling.

"You came swiftly," The Deku Tree said this as if it was in pain. Zelda's curious face turned to worry, "What's wrong?"

"You have sensed it these past nights in your dreams," The Deku Tree began, "evil forces are strengthening, thus I've been cursed."

Zelda gasped, "Who would do such a thing? I need to tell the others!"

Zelda turned to run but the Deku Tree boomed, "No! Only you can help me,"

Zelda turned back to the Deku Tree, confused, "Me? What could I do?"

Before the Deku Tree could answer something crawled out of the Deku Tree in what looked to be a hole of dark energy. Zelda looked at it, it was some kind of one-eyed creature; that's all Zelda could describe it as. It crawled out of the dark hole and hissed at her from the base of the Deku Tree, "The Ssstone! Give me the Sstone!"

It started to charge toward Zelda and she ran in response.

"QUICK! Use your slingshot!" Navi cried as she flew beside Zelda as she ran. Zelda was stunned by the idea but remembered that the creature had a gigantic eye. She wanted to find a safe spot first to fire from. She saw that the creature was too fast for her to climb, and it would climb with her and get to her before she could fire, and staying in one place to fire won't work at the moment. She decided to try something she hasn't tried in a while: running backwards. She could easily do it, but with the added pressure of firing her slingshot she didn't know if she could do it, until she thought of loading the slingshot before running backwards. She swiftly loaded a sharper rock, noted by her bleeding when grabbing it, and loaded it onto the slingshot. She then spun around and ran in the way her back was turned; she had lost some speed in this transition but enough to stay a ways from the hissing creature. She fired the shot into its eye and it screamed out in pain as both tears and streams of blood stained the grass bellow.

"You'll pay!" The creature hissed as it looked around, trying to find Zelda who found time to climb a few feet up the Deku Tree and sit on a growing branch. After about ten seconds, the creature charged towards Zelda, who continued firing at the eye. After five shots, it was apparent the beast was blind as it kept charging in random directions where sound was coming.

"Zelda, you need to kill it!" Navi said in a whisper. Zelda nodded to her fairy but responded, "A sling shot will only slowly get it. I need something else,"

"ZELDA!" A voice cried from the entrance to the meadow, alerting the creature and Zelda. It was Mido; he was shaking and holding something Zelda couldn't see what it was.

"Isn't that the guy I pushed down a while ago?" Navi asked, looking back and forth between Mido and Zelda.

"Yea," Zelda confirmed, "He's got something, and I can't see what it is."

The creature started to charge toward Mido, causing him to freeze while screaming. Zelda aimed at the creature's head and got its attention long enough for Mido to circle around to the other side of the Deku Tree that Zelda was on.

"Oh my gods!" Navi cried, "He has the Kokiri Sword!"

"You mean the sword that was hidden by our leader a few generations ago for safe keeping?" Zelda asked, "I could probably use it."

Zelda noticed the creature getting closer to her as Mido also tried to get close. She noticed Mido was raising his arms a bit.

"Oh no," Zelda said in realization, her eyes widening in shock.

"He's not going too…" Navi had the same reaction.

"CATCH!" Mido threw the sword and sheathe up to Zelda who caught it by the handle and fell off the branch. The creature was about to strike but Zelda quickly reacted by using the sheathed sword to block its clawed leg. She then tossed the creature away using said sheathe, distracting the creature as the sword was unsheathed. In Zelda's hand the sword felt so natural, like she had trained with it like a master; she had never even touched a sword in her life. It made her slightly curious after a deed was done.

When the sword was unsheathed she jumped, spun forward onto the creature's back and ran the sword full through. She heard a cry in pain then felt it fall down, moving no more. She didn't move for a few seconds, processing all that happened and how she did it. Navi came over to her and spoke, "That… was… AWESOME!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Outside the Forest**

Mido ran over to the still stunned Zelda, looking at her with a newfound respect as she climbed down from the dead creature's back. Her new fairy was constantly asking her how she managed to do that, Zelda finally answered, "I don't know."

"You saved the Great Deku Tree, and you don't know how you did it?" Mido asked, "Your still weird,"

Zelda frowned and made a slight whining noise towards him in which Mido stepped back, realizing she has a sword.

"You… did well young Zelda." The Deku Tree said, still in a pained voice. Mido, Zelda, and their fairies turned to him in worry.

"Wasn't that creature the thing that caused you pain?" Zelda asked.

"Yes," The Deku Tree spoke, "however, the curse it laid upon me is still here, meaning it was merely transporting the curse to me. It was a minion of an evil one,"

Mido was worried, "Wh-what's gonna happen to you, Great Deku Tree?"  
The tree was silent for a few seconds, before it said it's fate gravely, "I'm afraid I will whither and die."

Zelda and Mido gasped before Navi cried out, "NO! You can't die! What will happen to this forest without you protecting it?"

"It may fall prey to evil," The Deku Tree explained, "but that will depend on if the Kokiri can handle the change,"

There was silence for a few seconds until Zelda spoke, "Why did you summon me specifically?"

"It is time for you to go on a journey, young Zelda, a journey that could help us all," The Deku Tree said. After he spoke, he began to shake and the leaves started to part. A green jewel lined in gold linings fell down from the top and slowly landed in Zelda's hands.

"Go north out of the forest, take this jewel to the Prince of Destiny within Hyrule Castle. He will guide you to your next task," The Deku Tree moaned in pain, "I-if you wish for protection, carve a shield from my bark before it withers, may it help you in your journey."

"Great Deku Tree…" Zelda said this softly, almost in shock. She was being sent on a journey that could save the forest from evil. She could stop evil before it took the forest she knew and loved, she nodded then looked at the Deku Tree with determination, "I accept your quest!"

Mido looked at Zelda's newfound determination, he never knew Zelda had such courage inside of her. Then again he made it his job the last six years to basically torture her. He felt like he was a jerk.

"Good luck Zelda." The Deku Tree then said no more to save his strength for the shield that was to be made.

"Mido," Zelda called his name, making him look at her, "Would you help me make the shield?"

Mido was dumbfounded for a moment, but nodded.

After a few hours, the shield was complete. Many came into the meadow during the carving to mourn the Deku Tree's passing, but Saria only leaned against the tree and smiled, as if she knew something. Zelda and Mido told the Kokiri what happened, and what Zelda was about to embark on. Some Kokiri where skeptical, some were worried, and some didn't want her to go. But in the end all the Kokiri accepted the fact Zelda had to leave, but not without a proper farewell.

Once the shield was done, swirls that Mido carved into it were painted red to make it look nicer. Sibela and some others gave Zelda a huge sack, currently full of food and water. Zelda secured her slingshot around her waist and the Kokiri Sword on her back with what the Kokiri called the Deku Shield. For the first time in ages, the Kokri gathered around the north side of the village. Zelda said goodbye to many acquaintances first, then her friends publicly spoke their farewells. Mido went first of these friends.

"Zelda, I want to apologize for everything I've done to you, ever. And I mean it. You tried your best to save the Great Deku Tree, heck if I didn't see it myself I would have thought you killed him yourself!" Mido proclaimed, "But that's not the case. Just promise me one thing, kay? You'll come back, no matter what."

Zelda nodded, "I will"

With that Mido stepped back into the crowd of the surrounding Kokiri and Sibela stepped out, "Somehow, I knew this day would come when you would somehow leave us. This is probably what the dreams you've been having have been telling you, and that's why the Deku Tree didn't say anything about them. He wanted you to find out for yourself. Good luck Zelda, I know it's not goodbye."

Zelda gave her caretaker a big hug before she stepped back into the crowd. Saria then approached her with her ocarina in hand, "Zelda, this is going to be a big journey, I know it, so I want you to have this,"

Saria held out her ocarina to Zelda, and Zelda stared at it for a second then looked back at Saria, touched by this gift.

"Saria, I can't take this," Zelda said, "You love your ocarina! Fami gave it to you before she…"

Saria shook her head, "I can make another one. Please, take it! So you can remember the forest. So you can remember its song,"

Saria then put the ocarina to her lips and played the song she always played, the Kokiri called it Saria's Song and it fit her and the forest perfectly; playful, mysterious, and enchanting. After a few rounds of the song, Saria put the ocarina in Zelda's hand and closed Zelda's hand, forcing her to accept the gift.

"I'll take good care of it!" Zelda proclaimed. Navi flew closer to Zelda, "Come on we gotta go!"

"Yea, we do," Zelda was happy Navi wanted to come along, she'd probably not be able to survive alone. She also like the fact she would have someone to talk to along the way. Zelda slowly walked towards the north path out of the village with many Kokiri waving and saying their goodbyes to her. Zelda was touched, she didn't think they all cared for her that much, this proved her wrong and now she had to leave them in hopes of saving them from an unknown evil.

Zelda walked through the forest calmly, wondering about her new adventure and how it would be. After meeting the Prince of Destiny, she couldn't think of what could happen. I bugged her a bit, but she tried no to dwell on it. One thing she did dwell on was Navi, why was her fairy was so late, was she born just yesterday, or was it because of the Deku Tree that they did not meet until that morning, she did not know.

"You look really deep in thought," Navi said, sitting on Zelda's shoulder. Zelda took notice to Navi's observation and spoke, "Just kind of thinking why I couldn't see you until this morning."

"Oh right," Navi said, "Well, I was kind of away,"

Zelda shrugged, accidentally knocking Navi off her shoulders, Navi knew it wasn't on purpose. They eventually made it to the edge of the forest where Zelda suddenly stopped, gazing at the plains. Navi took notice immediately, "What's wrong?"

"Sibela told me that the Kokiri can only survive in the forest," Zelda said, "That if we exit the forest, we'll die."

"Navi was silent for a second, "Are you insulting the Great Deku Tree's last request?"

Zelda became wide eyed, "N-no! It's just that-"

"Just that either you're scared or you're insulting him!" Navi commented, "Now get out here before I push you out!"

Zelda stiffened up and nodded before she closed her eyes and ran out into the plains. She stood for a second then Navi said, "See? You're fine."

Zelda opened her eyes and saw that she indeed was fine.

"This must be why I was the only one who could help," Zelda said, continuing to examine herself, just to be safe.

"In any case, we have to continue north," Navi said, "I just hope we can find a place to sleep before it get's dark."

Zelda started to walk onward, "Come on Navi, its not like monsters are going to come out a night."

Zela motioned her arms over the plains as she spoke again, "We can see if something is coming."

Navi was still not convinced, but Zelda was inexperienced so she decided to let it go for now, "Ok then, so do you know where your going?"  
Zelda continued her walking, "Deku Tree said north, so we'll just go north,"

"Do you know which way is north?" Navi asked. Zelda quickly looked up above her and then pointed in the direction she was walking. Navi didn't comment on how she knew how to tell direction from looking at the position of the sun.

Hours later it was finally getting dark and Zelda found a tree to sleep against. Thankfully at the bottom of the sack there was a blanket to cover her.

"Goodnight Navi," Zelda yawned then fell asleep against the tree. Navi quietly said her good night before she settled on top of Zelda's blanket. Navi looked into the distant night, as if she was waiting for something to happen. Eventually the fairy had succumbed to sleep as well. It was many hours until she woke up to strange noises, the noises sounded like rustling of harder objects. Navi tried not to make any sudden moves but it would be useless; to people at a distance she was just a ball of light. Up close she was a thin sky blue fairy clothed in only two dark blue tight sashes that covered her bust and her hips. Her long flowing dark blue went down to the backside equivalent of her bellybutton. Her eyes were also the same color as her clothes. It was kind of said people saw he mostly as a blue ball of light, it bugged her especially since she liked how she looked, Navi was Navi and that's all that was needed to know about it.

Navi decided to stay still and wake Zelda so she spoke in a hushed tone "Zelda, wake up."

Zelda moved around a bit and groaned in response, Navi did her same actions but spoke a bit louder. Zelda once again groaned but this time she stirred.

"What is it?" Zelda moaned, louder than how loud Navi was speaking. Navi quickly shushed Zelda, "I heard something,"

"You did?" Zelda sat up and tried to rub the sleep from her eyes, she then heard the same noise Navi heard.

"That was it!" Navi whispered. Zelda quickly found her sword and only gripped it, waiting for something to happen. Things went to hell quickly.

What could only be described as a skeleton of a child with a more frontal mouth popped up from the ground; Zelda screamed in response. She ran away but grabbed only the sack, leaving the blanket where it lay among the skeletons.

"YOU LEFT THE BLANKET!" Navi said, startled by Zelda's actions. Zelda wasn't listening; she just wanted to get away from the skeletons.

They didn't know how long they ran until the adrenaline had faded from their systems. All Zelda knew was that she was tired and that she had left the blanket back with the skeletons. Thankfully she had everything else with her, she was happy for that, and that Navi and her were ok.

"That was close," Zelda said, sitting on the plains.

"You had a sword," Navi said, "You could have beaten them,"

Zelda pouted, "I was scared, what would you have done?"

Navi didn't respond to the question, she only sighed.

"And now we're lost," Zelda said, gonna have to wait until dawn to find out where we are.

"What's that in the distance?" Navi pointed to what looked to be a hill. Zelda looked at it as well, "well, let's go see,"

Zelda shrugged before she walked towards the hill.

By the time they got to said hill, it was close to dawn; Zelda could feel it. The hill had a wall on it to they followed the wall to the entrance. Two poles suspended a sign, Zelda titled her head as she tried to understand what it said.

"Navi, what does that say?" Zelda pointed to the sign. Navi looked up at it and said, "Well it's kind of dark, we'll find out in a few hours."

Zelda shrugged and found herself in a very different place from the forest. What she saw was a house made by wood, but it didn't look natural. It was a wood cabin; she saw two more of them and looked at them in wonder.

"Are these houses?" Zelda asked, Navi responded quickly, "Yes, the world is a very different place than the forest. I flew around the world and this is the least of its curiosities,"

Zelda responded by making a curious noise then proceeded to inspect one of the buildings. She managed to open the door without much hassle and found herself opening a door to a bunch of white-feathered creatures.

"This must be a farmhouse," Navi said, "They sure do like cucoos*1,"  
Zelda was too tired to care what they were, she ended up flopping onto the ground within a mass of cucoo feathers and falling asleep. Navi sighed and joined her after a while, realizing that she too was sleepy.

Two people awoke at the crack of dawn on the Lon Lon Ranch, unaware someone had snuck in to sleep with their cucoos. One was an old man with a baldhead and a brown mustache and the other was a girl with orange hair and brown eyes; it was Talon and Malon, the owners of the ranch, up for their morning chores. Talon was feeding the cucoos when he saw a blue glow and a green cloth among a pile of cucoo feathers. He lifted some cucoo feathers and saw that the green cloth was a small green dress being worn by a sleeping girl. Next to the girl was a blue fairy. The sleeping girl surprised Talon; he only decided to continue feeding his cucoos and then tell Malon about this. His little girl wanted to see her right away; and so she did. Malon approached the sleeping girl with curiosity, she had a feeling of what the girl was but she needed to see her to figure it out.

"It's a fairy girl from the forest!" Malon said happily, "I knew it!"

"Should probably wake her," Talon said, saying something he didn't think of the first time he saw the girl. Malon scolded her father for not doing the action in the first place. But she decided it was for the best, so she softly shook the sleeping Zelda who would in turn wake Navi the fairy.

Zelda groaned as she felt herself being moved gently, it felt like Sibela was waking her up after sleeping in too long past sunrise and was about to tell her to eat before noon came. But she didn't awake to her home, she awoke to feathers in front of her face, and a place that was made of wood, but it wasn't a tree. She then collected her thoughts and knew she was far north of her home, somewhere on a plain but inside a house. She looked up to find a girl with orange hair looking at her with a smile.

"Wake up there sleepy head," The orange-haired girl said. Zelda sat up and got a good look at the girl before she said, "Sorry I slept here, but there were some things on the plains and we saw this place. What is this place anyway?"

"You're at the Lon Lon Ranch!" the orange-haired girl said, "Famous for it's milk and horse breeding, we raise some real winners!"

"Horse breeding?" Zelda asked. Navi stopped Malon and said, "Zelda, trust me. You don't wan to know just yet."

Zelda became confused before the orange haired girl frowned and spoke, "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Malon and this here's my dad, Talon."

"Pleasure to see you escaped the Stal Children," Talon said, only getting a blank stare from Zelda, "those creatures you saw last night."

Zelda let out an "Oh," then stood up, wiping the feathers off her dress.

"Well, we have to get back to chores, you can help if you like then we can send you on your way to wherever you wanted to go," Malon said. Zelda became wide eyed and spoke, "so, you know where Hyrule Castle is?"

"Hyrule Castle?" Malon asked, "Your in luck! Dad's gonna make a shipment of milk there tomorrow!"

"I wouldn't mind if you came along," Talon said, "Just don't drink the milk we're gonna deliver,"

Zelda nodded at the rule and decided to help Malon with her chores, but all she wanted to do was see the horses she talked about. Zelda followed Malon out of the barn and saw the ranch in daylight, she was surprised when she saw the fenced up horses.

"So that's a horse." Zelda said, surprising Malon.

"You've never seen a horse before?" Malon then thought about her origins then stated it, "Oh yea, you're from the forest."

Zelda didn't know what she meant by not seeing a horse before, but she decided to let it go and help Malon feed the horses.

After a while, most of the horses have been fed and Zelda was trying to feed one of the horses, but it seemed to refuse to be fed by Zelda. Zelda tried and tried again but the light brown horse refused her every time. Eventually the horse just ran to the other side of the horses' area of the farm.  
"Oh that Epona," Malon said, slightly annoyed. She motioned for Zelda to calm down and then she did something Zelda didn't expect her to do, sing. She sung a song and the horse she called Epona came to Malon calmly. Zelda was wide-eyed for a second then fished Saria's ocarina out of her sack and tried to play the song.

"You have an ocarina?" Malon said, "Here, repeat after me."

Malon taught Zelda the song quickly then, after Zelda played it successfully, the horse came to her, making Malon laugh.

"She likes you now," Malon said, "Epona's pretty picky on who she likes but she's just trying to protect herself."

"It's ok," Zelda said, feeding Epona calmly. She then saw Malon inspecting both Epona and herself, Zelda had to ask, "What are you doing?"

"I'm thinking," Malon responded, "Maybe you could ride Epona,"

Zelda looked between Epona and Malon then asked, "Ride her?"

They then both heard a voice behind them, "That won't happen for quite some time, Malon."

Zelda and Malon then looked to see some short, pale man with a gigantic mustache. Malon didn't regard him as a stranger, "But Ingo, I think she could ride her, she looks like the right size. Maybe they could grow together!"

"Epona is still much to young," Ingo insisted, "Besides, I highly doubt Epona would allow anyone to ride her,"

Malon ignored Ingo and turned to Zelda, "Come on try it!"

Zelda didn't think this was a good idea, but then again it could be helpful on her adventure is she knew how to ride a horse. She told Malon she'd try it, in which Malon cheered and rushed off to find what she called a saddle. Ingo also stormed off, convinced Epona could not be rode. Zelda just stood there with Epona and decided to name the song she like Epona's Song, because Epona liked it and would come to the person who played it. She then decided to play that song until Malon came back with a brown piece of shaped leather. Malon strapped the saddle onto Epona's back, who didn't really seem to mind it.

"Ok, it's nice and tight, but not tight enough to hurt her," Malon said, "Use those foot hole things to climb onto her back, let's see if she'll let you ride,"

Zelda was hesitant at first but then she took a deep breath and grabbed the saddle and slowly climbed up on Epona. Epona was confused a bit but Malon calmed her down before Epona freaked out. Once Zelda sat down on the saddle Epona was calm, or at least not throwing a tantrum. She whined and snorted a bit, not happy about it but allowed Zelda to ride her. Malon confirmed this to Zelda, "She's not happy about it, but she's letting you ride her."

"If she doesn't like it she could always throw Zelda off," Navi said, seemingly coming out of nowhere, not to Malon's surprise. However, Zelda was surprised, "Where did you come from?"

"I was sleeping in your hair," Navi said then blushed, "It's comfy,"

Zelda laughed before Malon came to Epona's side and poked Zelda, "Well, since she likes you I'll give you the basics of riding a horse!"

Malon ended up teaching Zelda how to ride Epona until it was lunchtime, in which they gave Epona more food for being so cooperative. Epona seemed to like Zelda more and more during the riding, and Zelda felt a surge of adrenaline when Malon finally allowed her to ride Epona full speed. The surge lasted long after she had Epona slow down and stop moving.

After the long and hard day ended, Malon, Talon, Zelda, and Navi sat down to eat some dinner. It wasn't berries and fish, like Zelda first thought; instead it was a loaf of bread, a roasted cucco over a bed of rice, some fruit, and salad. Zelda nibbled on the fruit and the salad, but was still curious about the meat. Malon finally noticed Zelda kept glancing at the cucco and smiled, "If you wanted some, just ask,"

Malon then proceeded to fill a small portion of Zelda's plate with some white cucco meat and a large spoonful of rice. Zelda looked at the cucoo meat for a bit then finally asked, "What is it, exactly?"

"You know those cuccos in the barn?" Talon said, "This is one of them,"

Zelda was shocked, "You eat animals?"

"What do you eat out there in a forest?" Malon asked after biting into an apple. Zelda numbered off on the things she ate on a regular basis, "We usually just eat fruit and berries, but sometimes we find food in the ground. There's this one brown covered one but if you peel it, it's white! It's delicious!"

"That's a potato," Talon said, "I didn't even think the forest had any,"

"Do you fish?" Malon asked, Zelda nodded before Malon continued, "Fish are living as well."

Zelda wasn't that surprised, she fished but she didn't eat fish because she didn't like fish, "So, it's like fish?"

"It's different," Malon said, "Come on, one bite won't hurt!"

Zelda looked at the steaming piece of cucco, still hot and juicy, and slowly used the fork she had to pick it up.

"Come on Zelda!" Navi said in an annoyed tone, "If you can't even eat properly how do you expect to do anything else?"

Zelda knew what Navi was referring to, the Great Deku Tree's last request. She would need all her strength to do whatever was in store for her. She quickly put the piece of cucco in her mouth and closed it; what she tasted was probably the best thing in her entire life. She expressed this to Talon and Malon several time during dinner, which was finally silenced by Navi screaming in Zelda's ear to shut up about it. Zelda was quiet for the rest of the evening because of it. Malon thought it a little ridiculous, but she decided to let it happen so Zelda and Navi could bond; she thought they had such a long journey ahead of them.

*1:I decided to stick with Cucoos as the name for the chicken-like creatures in the Zelda world.

Yea, she's not in the market yet, but she will be in the next chapter! I'm pretty sure with how it's progressing she'll also meet Link! So look forward to that! I should probably make chapters longer; tell me if I should please!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Hyrule Castle**

The journey to Hyrule Castle Town in the cart full of milk was uneventful; Talon, Malon, Zelda, and Navi left at dawn so that they would make it in the evening, thus no Stal Children showed up to scare Zelda once again. Zelda and Malon constantly talked about Epona, The forest, and Zelda's ocarina, but Zelda tried to avoid the latter. Zelda didn't like to talk about Saria's ocarina, it reminded her of Saria's caretaker, Fami. Fami was said have disappeared on her way to the Forest Temple, so many were scared to go try and find the temple again; but Saria found the way safely. After a long silence, Zelda saw Malon look ahead after a conversation about to Kokiri tribe as a whole; she smiled. Zelda looked at her, confused, until she turned to head in front of her and saw what she saw; a huge stonewall, surrounded by a moat. A Bridge was currently down over the moat, but Zelda saw that there were chains attached to it. Many people were coming in and out of the opening the bridge provided in a big hustle and bustle.

"There it is; Hyrule Castle Town!" Malon said in glee. Zelda was confused and intrigued; this was something completely new! She had never seen buildings of this scale, only in her dream. She then put two and two together and figured this was the place in her dream; she knew she was going the right way to see the Prince of Destiny.

They went across the bridge and they soon found themselves surrounded by many people in a huge plaza. Many were already standing still around merchants but many were also making their way to many shops surrounding the plaza. Thankfully guards helped carts make their way to where they were going. On their way through the hustle and bustle, Zelda looked off to the right of the cart to see a huge building, she never saw anything like it before; it was huge. Her thoughts were soon distracted by Talon talking with some guard that was watching the way to the castle.

"So, you've bringing milk up to the castle?" the guard asked, inspecting the milk bottles. Talon nodded, "Same as always,"

"Well ok then," The guards said, satisfied with them passing through to the castle, "You know the drill then Talon, just had to check you this time because of that newcomer with the sword,"

"Oh Zelda?" Talon said, "She said she had some business up at the castle so we let her come along,"

The guard shrugged, "I dunno anything about it, but I'm never really told anything anymore, so go ahead on your way,"

Talon nodded and went up to the castle, arriving at the entrance at dusk. Talon and Zelda were starting to get tired but Malon kept reminding them that they have a job to do. Talon finally stopped the cart at the entrance to the palace, way past the gate, and they started unloading the milk.

"We need to get some crates to the guard tower," Malon said, "Zelda, you help me get them there,"

Zelda looked at her weirdly but then she decided to help anyway so they each took a crate and pushed them all the way to the guard tower. They put them next to the entrance then stopped, satisfied with their work.

"I'm gonna go up ahead," Malon said, "You tell the guards in the tower that their milk is out here. And what ever you do, _don't put them in the river._"

Zelda nodded as Malon went away, back to her father at the entrance. Zelda noticed something in Malon's voice, like she knew they didn't have any appointment with anyone in the castle, but she was helping. Zelda then noticed a hole and whispered to Navi, "I think we can get in through there."

"Go for it," Navi said quietly, hidden in Zelda's hair. Zelda nodded then started to push the milk towards the river. She then realized Malon wanted these on the side to help Zelda out. It was kind of weird how she knew so she decided to ask Navi about it, "Do you think she knows?"

"Yea, she does," Navi said bluntly, "She's helping because she knows in some way it's for the best."

"Then let's not fail her, or the Deku Tree," Zelda said in quiet determination as she continued to pull the boxes towards the river.

It took until a bit after dark, but Zelda finally pushed both boxes into the river, stacked onto each other so she could jump into a water drainage pipe. She jumped off the top box and made it, so she couched down and crawled into the hole. She saw more walls on the other side while she was wet inside a pond. There were no guards around the pond, but she saw someone as a shadow; she then heard a sword being unsheathed and knew she was in trouble.

"Don't you dare move, thief," The person was defiantly young and male, but it was still a strong voice. She couldn't see any of his features, nor see any of his clothing. She began to wonder why this place was so dark; they could always light a fire to see things. But while these thoughts went inside her head, Navi flew out of her hair and knocked the shadowed boy down.

"We need to see someone and if your gonna get in the way then I'm gonna make you pay!" Navi decided to go for the low, quiet, but menacing voice; she frightened many other fairies with this voice, but something surprised her. She wasn't met with eyes full of fear; from her glow she could see blue eyes full of curiosity and slight shock.

The blue-eyed boy then spoke, "A fairy?"

Navi backed off the boy, letting her light show him; he was a young boy with dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and skin slightly darker than Zelda's. He wore a fancy blue and red outfit, lined with gold. On the shirt of the outfit lay a gold emblem, three triangles that made a triangle being held by what looked to be a large bird. The boy then looked at Zelda and put his sword away, seeing her from Navi's glow, "Are you from the forest?"

Zelda stood up in the water then answered, "Yes,"

Navi flew back to her side and stayed silent until the boy's next question, "Do you have the Kokiri Emerald?"

Zelda was silent, not knowing what he meant, so Navi answered, "He means the stone the Deku Tree gave you, but why should we give it to you? Who are you?"

The boy sighed, "You're right to not trust me, I attacked you after all. But you are who I think you are so I know it's safe; I'm Prince Link."

Zelda became wide eyed, "You're the Prince of Destiny!"

Prince Link then quickly covered her mouth and shushed her, "Not so loud, the guards will come."

Zelda nodded then Prince Link uncovered her mouth then spoke, "Come with me, we have much to discuss,"

Zelda nodded again and followed Prince Link into the castle. They passed by many servants along the way, bidding Prince Link goodnight and not minding Zelda, thinking she was just another servant. They eventually made their way to a room that Prince Link locked once they were inside. The room was not too decorative; the only decorated thing in the room was the lavish bed, filled with blue and gold. There were a couple of chairs in the room as well as a desk, a wardrobe, and a pan filled with cool water on top of a nightstand. The desk was near an open hole in the wall, a window that let in the light of the moon to see there were a few unlit candles on the desk and nightstand. Zelda quickly sat down in one of the chairs as Link was locking the door. Navi sat down on Zelda's shoulders, waiting for the Prince to speak; he did so after he sat down on one of the other chairs, "You might not realize this, but you are a very important person. What you do from now on will effect the whole kingdom."

"The whole kingdom?" Zelda asked, "The Deku Tree said I could save the forest,"

The Prince looked like he was becoming more relaxed, "He probably told you that to keep you calm, in truth, what you are about to embark on effects all of the land of Hyrule,"

Link got up as Zelda questioned what Hyrule was, as if he knew what she was going to ask. He reached under his bed and pulled out a huge sheet of paper, half as long as Zelda was tall. He laid it out in front of her and it turned out to be a map of Hyrule.

"This, and probably more, is what your journeying to save," Link said then pointed over the map as he spoke, "I need you two gather the two other Sacred Stones. The Goron Ruby is on top of Death Moutain in the care of the Goron leader, and the Zora Sapphire is within Zora's Domain with their king."

"Why do I need these Sacred Stones?" Zelda asked, tempted to take the Kokiri Emerald out of her sack. Navi noticed this and pinched her quickly, in which she did nothing.

"You'll need these to open a door," Link sighed, "Listen well to what I have to say, I hate to repeat myself."

Zelda nodded before Link continued, "The leader of the Gerudo people is here to negotiate a treaty and allegiance. I believe it's all a fraud and they intend to overthrow the king. In truth, the leader seeks a sacred power called the Triforce. The Triforce is said to be the remnants of when the three goddesses created our world and returned to the heavens. Din created the earth we stand on, Nayru created the laws of the world, and Farore created our ancestors whom uphold those laws. The Triforce is merely a fraction of their power, but it is immense. The only way to get to the Triforce is to enter the Sacred Realm; and an entrance is just south of here, inside the town. Do you remember seeing a large building in the town?"

Zelda thought back to the huge building on the right side of town, "Yea, it was on the right side out town,"

Link nodded, "That is the Temple of Time, which holds the Door of Time; the door to the Sacred Realm. The door is in the back of the church along with an altar for the Sacred Stones. Even if the door was forced open, the entrance to the Sacred Realm is said to only open when the stones are there."

"So, we're gathering the stones in one place?" Navi asked, "Isn't that kind of redundant?"

"No," Link replied quickly, "I want you two to go inside the Sacred Realm and guard the Triforce, warn any of the Sages that still are there."

"Ok, gather stones, go to the Temple of Time, and then guard the Sacred Realm from the Gerudo leader." Zelda made a list of things to do out loud.

Link then walked up to his bed, seemed to grab something and come back as he said, "There is one more thing you'll need,"

Link then sat down and revealed a blue seven-hole ocarina with a one gold lining. Zelda also saw that the three triangles was on the ocarina was well, "Well I'm set because I already have an ocarina." Zelda said as she revealed Saria's Ocarina. Link then shook his head, "No, you'll need this specific one. This is the Ocarina of Time, an heirloom passed down in my family. You'll need to play a specific song on this ocarina while the stones are on the altar to open the Door of Time."

"What song?" Zelda asked, gazing at the beautiful ocarina.

Link put the Ocarina of Time near his lips and shook his head; "I'll play it for you when you get the stones, but you will need one song on your journey, listen well."

He started to play a beautiful and slow song to Zelda, a song that Zelda thought was familiar. She ended up putting Saria's Ocarina to her lips and played the song with the Prince. In that moment she felt a bond with the Prince and wished that the moment would not end, but it did; there was a knock at the door. Link calmly got up and unlocked the door to reveal a tall, strong looking woman mostly dressed in purple.

"It's not like you to lock your door," The woman said, "Is the one from your dreams here?"

Link nodded, "Yes, come in and meet her."

The woman walked in the room and gazed at Zelda; she was exactly as the Prince described her, but there still seemed to be some disappointment. She shrugged it off and sat down in the third chair so she could talk to Zelda. Link returned to his chair as soon as the woman was situated.

The woman was the first to talk, "It is a pleasure to meet you, I am Impa; Link's caretaker and bodyguard."

Zelda suddenly felt intimidated by Impa; she was a strong woman that devoted herself to guard Link. She hid her slight fear away and gave an accidental nervous smile, "Nice to meet you, I'm Zelda."

Impa gave out a laugh, "You don't need to be scared of me,"

Zelda, embarrassed, looked to the ground and tried to resituate herself. She only perked her head once Link spoke, "Take it easy, almost everyone is intimidated by you the first time they see you,"

"Zelda's just not use to this," Navi said in a relaxed tone, "don't you two worry, I'll shape her up,"

Impa stared in disbelief, even though she shouldn't, at the fairy "You?"

If there was one thing that pissed off Navi, it was that people doubted she could do something because of her size, "You got a problem with that?"

Everyone in the room was taken a back by Navi's aggression towards Impa's reaction; it was at that point they knew they had to take her seriously or face the consequences. Navi steamed in silence as Impa continued the conversation, "We'll prepare something better for you to carry your items in, I suppose you could say it's bottomless."

Zelda titled her head, "Then how am I suppose to get things out of it?"

Immediately the Prince and his bodyguard burst into laugher at Zelda's innocence, this made Zelda even more confused. She poked Navi to see if she knew why they were laughing, but Navi was still steaming so she doubted she heard the last few seconds of the conversation.

It took about ten seconds for Link and Impa to calm down from Zelda's reaction before Link finally explained himself, "Sorry, but that's not a problem, if you know what you want you can get it from this sack. I believe we stuffed a cartful of items in it and not only did it weigh like a small sack of Rupees, but we could get any item from it,"

Zelda blinked her eyes, trying to imagine what great magic could have created this sack. She mulled over the thought and knew it would be of great use in her journey.

Impa then turned to Link, "Did you teach her your lullaby?"

Link nodded, "Just before you came in."

Zelda then automatically knew that the song she played with Link was a lullaby; she would call it Link's Lullaby from now on. Imp then stood up and looked at Zelda, "Then there is nothing else that needs to be done tonight. I'll show you to the nearest guest room, you will need your rest."

Zelda thanked Impa before she stood up herself and looked at Link kindly, "Goodnight, Prince Link,"

Link smiled, "Goodnight, Hero Zelda."

Zelda let out a giggle before Impa escorted her out of the room, leaving the Prince to sleep peacefully at long last.

Zelda, Navi (who was now sleeping in Zelda's hair), and Impa left the room and climbed down the stairs until they finally reached a hallway in which only one person was still awake; a Gerudo woman. She was dressed in their ware but it looked more formal and it was a coal black. She also seemed to have a yellow gem on her forehead. Impa regarded the woman calmly, "Gallendora, why are you still up?"

The woman regarded Impa with a smirk, "Just a walk in the gardens, it's so green here, unlike the desert."

Zelda noticed that this woman had a silky voice, but behind the silk she could heard the poison she used in her words. Zelda then hid behind Impa, scared of the Gerudo woman. She started to wonder if this was the person she was up against; if this is the Gerudo leader, Zelda thought, then I'm in for a fight.

Impa smiled, seeming not to notice the venom, "Just don't stay up too late, there is still much to discuss these next few days,"

Gallendora's smile then descended to a small frown, "Indeed there is, I look forward to it,"

Gallendora then pushed aside Impa and Zelda, leaving them to go about their way.

Zelda looked at Impa with a hint of fear in her eyes and voice, "Was that the Gerudo Leader?"

Impa nodded with a serious look on her face, "Yes, that is Gallendora, leader of the Gerudo tribe."

They then started walking as Impa explained, "The leader is suppose to be a man, for the Gerudo are a predominantly a female race. The rumor is that Gallendora was the leader's twin and she killed him in secret, making her leader."

Zelda shivered, "That's mean,"

Impa continued, "It's more than mean, it's evil. Hopefully all this will end soon and she will be brought to justice before the deed is done,"

They then came upon a door that Impa opened for her, "Here is your room, I'll bring your breakfast an hour after sunrise; goodnight, Young Hero."

Zelda then stepped into the room and immediately fell asleep as soon as she found the bed; for the first time in weeks she did not dream.

Navi was the first to awaken, the sun was just barely peaking up from the horizon and she could still hear owls and crickets in the distance. Navi left Zelda's comfortable hair and sat on the windowsill and looked towards the south. She sighed, it was now the third day of their journey and although they reached the objective, Navi could tell this was going to be a long journey. She also knew that if she wasn't there Zelda probably would never make it much farther than this, after all, they were suppose to make a journey to Death Mountain and Zora's Domain. Another particular thought came through Navi's head; can Zelda even swim? She made a note to find a pond and test that quickly.

She then thought of Death Mountain, and how a wooden shield won't survive for long there, even if it was from the Deku Tree's bark! Navi made another note to ask Impa about a proper shield. Navi sighed; she might have to make a list of things to do before they leave the castle.

Zelda awoke not even five minutes before Impa walked into her room with a tray of juice, milk, pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Zelda and Navi took the food gratefully; once again Zelda tasted one of the best things she ever eaten and Navi agreed with her, especially on the pancakes when they had syrup on them.

"That was fantastic!" Zelda exclaimed, "There are a lot more things outside the forest that are delicious!"

Impa smiled, "Glad you've enjoyed yourself, sadly you'll only be taking bread on this journey,"

"Because it last longer than most foods?" Navi asked, Impa nodded then responded, "Just don't eat it when it has green in it, but by then you could find enough rupees to by some more."

"Rupees?" Zelda asked before Impa drew out s simple green gem from her pocket, "This is a green Rupee, worth one Rupee,"

Zelda gazed at the shining stone, attracted by it's shininess before Impa put it away, "Blue are worth five, red are worth twenty, other currencies are rare but believe there is a rupee that is worth one hundred."

Zelda nodded, thankfully she knew how to count, "that'll help, I guess,"

Impa replied swiftly, "Trust me, it will,"

Zelda and Impa heard the door open once more and they saw Prince Link come inside with a strange sack that had straps, "This is the sack we told you about, we call it a 'backpack' because you can hang it on your back,"

Link then offered the backpack to Zelda who saw there was still a regular way to open the sack, so she proceeded to open it and saw a huge void with random items floating within it. She started to wonder how far down it goes. Link noticed this, "Don't fall it, we don't know what happens to living things yet, but we assume you'll be trapped until someone wants you out,"

Navi raised an eyebrow, "So your saying this thing could become a portable prison… interesting."

Link blinked his eyes, realizing what his words meant and let out a nervous laugh, "When you put it that way I suppose it can be."

Zelda smiled then emptied her current sack into the backpack; it made her smile when she saw Saria's Ocarina float inside. Link then closed the backpack to Zelda who fitted it onto her back with her sword and shield.

"Oh! Before I forget, where can we get a proper shield?" Navi asked. Impa answered this, "Right down in the town, I shall buy one on the way out for you."

Link nodded, "Right then, you have a week's worth of food in there but I suggest restocking in Kakriko Village as soon as you're done with Death Mountain; that's where you'll be heading first."

Zelda became a little nervous about the name, hopefully it will be more friendly than it's title suggests.

Link then spoke once more, "I have much work to do so I cannot accompany you, not to mention someone has to keep an eye on Gallendora. Impa shall escort you to the river near Kakriko Village; you'll go through the village and exit to the north to get to Death Mountain."

Zelda nodded, "North exit, got it. Thank you for everything Prince Link."

Link smiled, "You'll pay me back for it all soon enough, goodbye Zelda. May the Goddesses smile upon your journey."

Link then gave Zelda a quick bow and left the room, leaving Zelda, Navi, and Impa to leave at their leisure a few minutes later.

This is the part where you kill me for making Gannon a woman (hides behind many boxes, surrounded by guard dogs, surrounded by many cannons, and surrounded by a moat of lava) in all honesty, I didn't want to make him a woman at first; it was an idea my friend pitched to me when I told him about this story. I mulled over it for a bit and I decided "Why not? I have ideas that can make it work!" and here we are; with lots of Zelda fans hunting me down with torches, pitchforks, and who knows what else 0.0 Hopefully I'll survive long enough to complete this story.


	5. Chapter 5

Wow, just wow… I'm surprised about the reaction people had to me changing Gannon's gender; it was positive thus far. Some may hunt me down later but for now I am safe to continue.

**Chapter 5: Goron City**

Even in the morning hours, Castle Town was still in much hustle and bustle of business and crowds that helped that business grow. Thankfully people move to the side for carts to get through, otherwise Impa, Zelda, and Navi would have been trapped in the marketplace. Zelda needing a shield was bad enough without the clog of people constantly moving to most likely intentionally block their path. Thankfully the shield was bought without too much hassle, but there still was a problem; the shield was huge! Zelda could curl under it and fit inside the shield. Either way Zelda put the metal shield inside the backpack and relaxed on the cart as Impa drove them to the river near Kakriko Village. For most of the ride Zelda made little attempt to have a conversation with Impa, she was still intimidated by her and Impa took notice of this nearing the end of their time together when Zelda was sitting beside her, twiddling with her thumbs.

"If your intimidated by me then you'll end up dying by seeing a ghost," Impa said in a serious tone. Zelda then looked away, embarrassed, until Navi hit her on the head.

"She's right and you know it!" Navi said as Zelda rubbed where Navi hit her. Zelda sighed, "I'm not brave, there I said it,"

Impa smiled, "You have to be brave to admit something like that,"

Zelda blinked, realizing this to be true. She then felt confident to ask about Prince Link, "Impa,"

Impa glanced at Zelda then looked back at the road, "Yes?"

Zelda began to blush and twiddle her thumbs once again, "Um, what can you tell me… about… Prince Link?"

Impa couldn't help at smile, "I thought you might mention him,"

Zelda blinked, surprised, "What do you mean?"

Impa looked over at Zelda, "It's written all over your face, you love him,"

Zelda was silent for a moment, "Love?"

Impa then remembered her being from the forest, "You don't know what love is… do you?"

Zelda shook her head, making Navi fall out of her hair and onto the space between them. Navi was tempted to hit Zelda again, but she decided against it; she was interested in this conversation.

Impa had to think on how to explain it, "Do you have someone that takes care of you when you're young?"

Zelda nodded, "Sibela took care of me,"

Impa was thankful that she could explain this easier because of this information, "When she cared for you, did you see a warm glow in her eyes; when you were happy was she happy as well?"

Zelda didn't need a second to answer, "Yes,"

"That is love. In simpler terms anyway. But it's a little different when your older and it's a man and a woman,"

"How so?"

"That's something you'll have to figure out yourself."

Zelda nodded, she had another thing to understand about the world around her, only it was something that can only be self taught; she knew this would be a tough one.

Impa then looked ahead, "Ah, here we are,"

Zelda looked in front of them to see the riverside was already in sight, and above it was a simple arced bridge of white stone. Impa immediately stopped the horses, "This is where I leave you, and there is a letter inside the backpack, use it to go to Death Mountain."

Zelda climbed off the cart and smiled, "Thanks for everything!"

Impa started to turn the kart around, "Complete the tasks at hand, and you'll repay us more than we ever could,"

Zelda then waved to Impa as she left to go back to Castle Town, leaving Zelda and Navi to continue the journey to Death Mountain. Navi was the first to speak, "Well, we better get moving to Kakriko Village, we don't want to be stuck out here in the field at night again."

Zelda grimaced, remembering the Stal Children, and immediately walked across the bridge before she increased her pace to a slow jog; she had much ground to cover before dusk fell.

Zelda and Navi made it to the village's entrance after dark, they made it to the mountain path before the Stal Children arrived but they heard them somewhere in the shadows; this made Zelda run faster. The guard stationed at the entrance looked at Zelda weirdly, probably saw Navi's glow in her hair, but then disregarded her entirely as she slowed her breath and pace as she entered the village.

Navi sighed in relief, "We made it,"

Zelda nodded slightly, being careful not to knock Navi out of her hair, and let out a noise that signaled her agreement. Navi then flew out beside her to look around, "We're going to need to find a place to stay, that is unless you want to brave the mountain pass tonight,"

Zelda yawned before she spoke, "I'd rather not, and what if there are some monsters on the pass at night?"  
Navi sighed, this time in annoyance, "Zelda, you need some backbone. If worse comes to worst you can't face Gallendora like this!"

Zelda groaned, "How am I going to do that? I have no skill, I've grown up in peace all my life!"

Navi growled quietly, "Stop yelling, you're making a ruckus!"

"**I'm** making a ruckus?"

"Yes! LISTEN!"

Zelda then became quiet before Navi spoke again, "I'm not going to let you fail the Deku Tree, or the Prince; are you?"

Zelda shook her head, "Not a chance!"

Navi smiled with victory, "That's the spirit!"

Zelda let out a small giggle at Navi's comment. Navi kept her smile for a moment then spoke with some curiosity, "If we're going up tomorrow… then were are we gonna sleep?"

Zelda blinked, "you mean we can't sleep against that tree?"

Zelda pointed to the tree near the village entrance and Navi shook her head, "No, because you forgot the blanket when you ran from the Stal Children."

Zelda sighed in defeat, "I don't know, do people let you stay in their houses?"

"Not without a price, there's got to be an inn in this town."

Zelda blinked, "An inn?"

"It's a big place were there are many rooms, you can sleep there for days as long as you pay,"

"Oh! So if it's big is it something like… that?"

Zelda pointed to a rather large building on the top of a hill near the exit of the village to Death Mountain. Navi looked at the building a shrugged, "Let's go see,"

They entered the building to see many people laughing, sitting around tables, or sleeping on them with a drink in their hand. They also saw a bar in the back of the room and a small desk of to their right near a set of stairs. A woman was standing at the desk looking at them with a smile on her face, "Hello, welcome to the Kakriko Inn, are you staying the night?"

Zelda walked up to the woman and nodded silently before Navi flew beside her and spoke, "Just for the night,"

The woman looked at Navi for a second then nodded, "Alright, would you like to pay now, or in the morning?"

Zelda shrugged, "Now,"

The woman nodded, "That will be 50 Rupees,"

Zelda then fished two red Rupees, and two blue Rupees out of the backpack; the red were already in the backpack when she received it from Prince Link and she found at least five other Rupees on the way to the village, most of them green.

"Is this enough?" Zelda asked nervously but was comforted when the woman continued her smile, "Perfect amount, this must be the first time on your own if you don't know Rupees that well; no matter, just be mindful and be careful at night."

Zelda then received a room key from the woman, "up the stairs, second door on your left. Have a wonderful stay."

Zelda then found her room without much trouble, closed the door and went to sleep minutes after she fell onto the bed.

Zelda and Navi set out immediately after they woke up, Zelda nibbling away at a slice of bread along the way towards the surprisingly closed gate. She approached the guard and asked, "Why's the gate closed?"

The guard replied firmly, "The mountain can be dangerous, we keep it closed to make sure children don't wander up the mountain. Someone your age doesn't need to go up the mountain!"

Zelda then fished the letter Impa told her about out of the backpack, "but I have permission."

The guard lifted and eyebrow and looked over the letter before he gasped, "M-my apologies! I just didn't think you royal messengers were so young! I'll open the gate right away!"

Zelda lifted her eyebrow as she saw the guard quickly open the gate and let her pass, "Navi, what did the letter say?"

Navi snickered, "It's nothing important Zelda, what is important is that we can now make it up the mountain to the Goron City."

Zelda let out a noise of agreement and continued a brisk pace up the mountain path.

The way up the mountain was uneventful and she reached the Goron City past high noon, Zelda couldn't help at stare at wonder at the Gorons.

"So that's a Goron…" Zelda said quietly. Navi nodded at her, "They're made of rock and they apparently eat rocks from certain caves."

Zelda decided not to say anything in response, but instead went to talk to a Goron sitting near the doorway, "Hello there, where is your leader?"

The Goron looked at her and pointed to the middle ring of the city then went back to looking depressed. Navi was the one that took notice as Zelda climbed down the ledges, "Zelda, I think something is very wrong here,"

Zelda completed her decent then looked around, "Maybe the leader will know, we an ask him."  
A Goron regarded her, "No one is seeing our leader today,"

Zelda noticed this Goron was standing near the door she needed to go through, "But it's really important! Um…I'm a …royal messenger!"  
The Goron perked its rocky eyebrow and folded his arms, "Prove it,"

All of a sudden the Prince's words came to Zelda's mind, _you will need one song on your journey, listen well._ Zelda immediately pulled out Saria's Ocarina and started to play Link's Lullaby. The Goron became wide eyed and immediately caused the stone door next to him to open. Zelda stopped playing when she heard this and went inside the newly made opening to a short tunnel followed by a large room. The large room didn't have anything on the opening side, other than two unlit torches, but on the other side were a great statue, a red carpet, and a Goron that stood on that carpet. The Goron, for only a moment, looking saddened and deep in thought then he saw Zelda at the door.

"When I heard the song of the Royal Family, I thought the messenger was here, but you're just a kid! How could my sworn brother treat me, Darunia, the big boss of the Gorons like this? Now that makes me really mad! Get out of my face!"

Navi was aggravated, "Now wait just a minute! We were sent by Prince Link so don't you get snippy!"

Darunia growled, "I am already!"

Zelda flinched at the angered Goron before he continued, "Ancient creatures infest Dodango's Cavern, bomb flower harvest is poor, and my people are staving due to a rock shortage!"

Zelda looked around the room and spoke, "But this place is full of rocks,"

Darunia fumed, "My people would never eat such rocks! We pride ourselves by eating the finest rocks from Dodongo's Cavern! Suggesting such is an insult! Now get out!"

Navi let out a 'hmp' of annoyance before she spoke again, "We came here for the stone and we're not leaving without it!"

Zelda sighed as Navi tried to convince Darunia to give them to Goron Ruby. She knew that Navi wouldn't take no for an answer so she accepted it. After Navi's last spat Zelda decided to sit at the other end of the room so she could gaze around the room. Zelda eventually got bored of doing that and fished out Saria's Ocarina from the backpack and smiled at the memories it held; he life back in the Kokiri Forest. She decided to play Saria's song in order to remember those times with even more detail. What happened next surprised both Zelda and Navi. As soon as Zelda started playing the song, they heard stomping noises from across the room. Darunia had started dancing to the music. This went on for about a minute, until there was a smile on the Goron's face. Zelda felt that it was now safe to approach the Goron after he stopped dancing.

"What a nice beat!" Darunia exclaimed, "Just like that my depression is gone and all I wanted to do was dance!"

Zelda smiled, "Glad you like Saria's Song,"

Darunia then cleared his throat, "I'm Darunia, leader of the Gorons. So what was it that you wanted?"

Zelda felt confident to outright say it, "We need the spiritual stone, the Goron Ruby."

Darunia gave a concerned look, "You want the Spiritual Stone of Fire too?"

"Too?" Navi and Zelda asked at the same time. Darunia nodded, "Yes, but I don't give the stone to anyone! If you want it so bad, why not clear out Dodongo's Cavern for my people? If you do, I'd give you anything, even the stone."

Navi blinked, "You're kidding me, right?"

Zelda tilted her head, "That's it?"

Darunia nodded at Zelda, "And take this bracelet, even a little one like you can pick up a bomb flower."

Darunia handed Zelda a bracelet made of brass and copper, branded with the Goron's mark. Zelda nodded, put it on her left wrist and walked out with a smile as Navi tried to figure out a way to tell her about Dodongo's Cavern. Once they exited the room, she decided to outright tell her, "Um Zelda, there's something you need to know about Dodongo's Cavern…"

Zelda look over at Navi, "What?"

Navi sighed, "It's really dangerous in there."

Zelda stopped on some stairs and became wide eyed, "W-What?"

Navi continued, "If the Gorons haven't been clearing out the creatures in the Cavern then it'll be filled with them."

Zelda shook, making her sword and shield clank on her back. After a few seconds of this they both heard a laugh from up the stairs. A goron child emerged from the shadows, revealing the source of the laughter. The child spoke in a grading and immature voice, "What's the matter, you scared?"

Zelda immediately saw Mido in this Goron and spoke back, "N-No I'm not!"

"Oh yea?"

"Yea!"

The Goron folded his arms, "Then prove it! Let's get into Dodongo's Cavern!

Sorry this took so long, college and slight writer's block. Anyway if you want to see a future scene from this, it's planned sequel(Yes, I'm gonna do Majora's Mask), or any other of my works go to my Doctor Who/Portal fanfic for contest details; very simple really.


	6. Chapter 6

All I have to say is I LOVE Skyward Sword :P

**Chapter 6: Dodongo's Cavern**

The Goron child, whose name was Honro, led Zelda and Navi out of the city and to a nearby ledge that overlooked the entrance to Dodongo's Cavern. Zelda looked over the edge and was confused; "I don't see any caves from here."

Honro rolled his eyes and groaned, "That's because Dodongo's Cavern is blocked by a bolder!"

Zelda let out an 'oooh' and looked down again, "So how do we unblock it?"

Honro shrugged, not knowing himself. Zelda looked around and saw a strange looking plant. She tilted her head in confusion before she asked Navi what it was. Navi looked over the plant and said her next words deviously, "Something we could use."

Honro looked over and gasped, "That's a bomb flower! The fairy is right, we can use it to blow up the boulder!"

Zelda was about to pick it before Navi slapped her hand, "You have to be ready to throw it to the boulder when you toss it, or else we're gonna explode!"

Zelda never heard the term before; in fact she heard nothing of explosives before. Going along with her innocence she asked, "Explode?"

Navi sighed, "Injured,"

Zelda let out another 'ooh' then moved away from the bomb flower, trying to picture what it could do. Navi then hit Zelda, "It won't explode if you don't pick it."

Zelda rubbed where she was hit and let out a tiny tear before she looked back at the unpicked plant. She then turned to Honro and asked, "You wanna do it?"

Honro narrowed his eyes, "What's the matter, you scared?"

Zelda was caught off guard by this insult, "N-No I'm not!"

Honro crossed his arms, "Then do it!"

Zelda was furious and desired to prove him wrong, so she groaned and picked the bomb flower and threw it over the edge. Navi was shocked that Zelda was able to pick the plant so easily; the flower is usually a few pounds or so and is only able to be picked by strong Hylians or Gorons. Honro and Zelda looked over the edge to see that the bomb landed right in front of the boulder and watched as it exploded and broke the boulder into smaller rocks.

"Whoa! Nice throw!" Honro said in awe, then looked over at Zelda's smiling face and narrowed his eyes, "er- for a non-Goron!"

Zelda's smile descended into a frown as she groaned at Honro's last part of his comment, "Let's just go."

It took them a while but they finally made it to the entrance to the cavern. Zelda looked into the darkness and felt the soft, heated air come from the cavern. Navi sat atop her head, eyes focused on the cavern alone, "Be careful Zelda. You never know what can lie in a dark cave."

Honro let out a small chuckle of success, "Nothing a non-scaredy cat can't handle!"

Zelda narrowed her eyes and smiled wickedly, suddenly finding a way to finally return the favor to Honro, "Then you go first."

Honro became stiff then turned to Zelda, "N-no, l-lady's first!"

Zelda tipped her head, "What's a lady?"

Honro then sighed and dead panned, "Never mind,"

He then slowly proceeded into the cave with Zelda and Navi following close behind him. Navi's glow slightly illuminated the cave, but not enough to truly see something without being a foot or so from it. The group saw nothing but rock until they could barely see the entrance of the cavern. Zelda was the first to notice it in Navi's light, "Hey, what's this?"

Honro stopped walking and turned back to the hylian girl, "what'd you find?"

Zelda crouched over the object in question, "It looks like a bag."

Zelda opened the back as Navi and Honro came closer to her in order to observe what Zelda found. When the bag opened Zelda pulled out a round object nearly the size of Zelda's head with a small string sticking out of it, "What is it?"

Honro stated nonchalantly, "Just a sack of bombs."

Zelda looked towards Honro, "Bombs?"

Honro rolled his eyes and the clueless girl, "Kinda like bomb flowers but they need fire to explode, light the string and once the string is gone it explodes."

Navi turned to Zelda, "Empty the bag into the backpack, we never know when we'll need bombs."

Zelda nodded and did as told as Honro laughed, "you'll never fit all of them in there!"  
Once Zelda was done with he task Honro blinked, "How'd you fit them all?"  
Zelda extended the open backpack forward, "See for yourself."

Honro reluctantly leaned towards the open backpack to gaze within; what he saw was nothing like he'd seen before, objects floating in the seemingly endless sack. He leaned in more to see if it was a trick but was stopped by Zelda, "Don't fall in, we don't know what happens to living things."

Navi huffed, "I still think the person would be stuck until someone got them out; it'd be a prison."

Honro immediately backed away from the backpack and glared at Zelda, "Let's continue,"

Zelda blinked in confusion, looked at Navi for a second, then closed the backpack so she could carry it as they journeyed deeper into the caverns.

The group soon found themselves in complete darkness, so much so that Zelda wanted Navi to sit on her head so she could still see. Navi complied, giving the excuse that her wings were tired anyway. Honro also remained closer to Zelda, trying to pierce the darkness, "It's strange,"

Zelda spoke with curiosity, "What is?"

Honro stopped walking, "This place is suppose to be filled with dodongos, but we haven't seen one."

Navi narrowed her eyes, "That is strange,"

The three of them immediately stopped and looked at each other, trying to figure this out. They were silent in thought until they heard a low growl from up ahead. Zelda jumped and fell down with a start at the sound of the growl, causing Navi to fall off her head and flutter above her. Unknown to Zelda, Honro also jumped at the sound and was very slightly shaking during the time she was on the ground. Honro gulped and turned to Zelda, "They… they must all be up ahead."

Zelda, though scared, saw this as another opportunity, "You scared?"

Honro was angered so he accidently shouted, "This isn't the time for that!"

Navi was about to hit Zelda when she realized Honro yelled, "Oh no."

Honro realized what he did and covered his mouth as they heard the echo of his last sentence bounce deeper into the cave. After his words could no longer be heard, they heard the same low growl and the sounds of heavy footsteps come towards them. Honro looked around his feet franticly as if he was looking for something. Zelda was frozen, looking towards the darkness ahead of them in order to see what was coming. Honro finally turned to Zelda and spoke, "Get those bombs out!"  
Zelda looked confused, "Why?"

Honro groaned, "Just do it!"

Zelda complied and with groan and pulled out two bombs which were swiped from her by Honro as soon as she stood up with them in her arms. As soon as Honro turned around they saw a giant green lizard coming straight for them at a fast rate. Honro then spoke, "Fairy! Touch the string!"

Navi wasn't amused, "I have a name! It's Navi!"

However she complied and as soon as she touched it, the string had a spark, as if the string had been touched by fire. The dodongo roared when it was near the group, but as soon as it started to roar Honro threw the bomb into it's mouth and the group heard the dodongo swallow the bomb. They then heard a noise from inside the dodongo and it started to emit smoke from its mouth and was in a slight daze. Honro then readied the other bomb, "Quick! Do it again!"

Navi, though still confused, complied and watched as the same actions repeated only this time after the explosion took place they saw the dodongo collapse and cease to move. Honro slowly fell to the ground, landing on his backside, "I can't believe that worked."

Navi was stunned, "You tried to do something that you didn't know would work?"

Honro sighed, "I heard this rumor that when a fairy touches the string of a bomb with some kind of emotion, the touch is like fire and the string ignites."

Zelda blinked, "Navi, can you create fire in your hands?"

Navi laughed, "Zelda, it's a little thing called magic, and if your thinking of having me help you in battle don't bother, my fire isn't strong enough to damage enemies. I've tried."

Zelda accepted this explanation and was glad that now she had a way to light the bombs she had on a whim, with Navi's help that is, "So are we going to find more of these… things?"

Honro was not amused, "it's a dodongo, and yes this is what our leader wanted you to get rid of."

Zelda stiffened up, realizing what she was up against, and gulped; she was scared again. Honro seemed to be scared but was hiding it better than Zelda, "L-let's get going! The sooner we do this, the sooner we get out of this cave and the sooner my people won't starve!"

Being reminded of why she needed to clear the caverns, she felt revitalized and raring to press on, for the sake of the Goron people. Navi noticed this determination and expressed a small smile of pride; she knew this courage was from all she's done so far.

Zelda and Honro fought many more dodongos as they traveled deeper into the cave. Zelda noticed it was getting hotter and hotter, getting to the point where she couldn't bear the heat. This caused her to slowly trek behind Honro and sweat bullets. This confused Honro so he decided to stop and investigate, "Are you tired or something?"

Zelda panted before she stopped in front of Honro, "No, it's just really hot."

Honro then remembered something important, "Oh! Your people can't stand the heat we gorons can!"

Zelda nodded, trying to bear the current heat. Navi then spoke, "If Zelda and I go much farther, we might die from this heat!"

Honro then sighed, "There's still more dodongos! We haven't even seen the king dodongo!"

Zelda blinked, "King dodongo?"

Honro nodded, "It's just a giant dodongo."

Zelda stepped back, "H-how big?"

Honro shrugged, slightly shaking "n-never seen one."

Zelda then fell to the ground behind her in shock, hoping to calm herself down. Unfortunately the rocks behind her were weak and crumbled bellow her causing her to fall. Honro and Navi called out her name as she screamed and fell to the cavern bellow. She landed on something green and scaly and slid down towards the front of it, a giant dodongo that could most likely devour Zelda in a single gulp. As she slid down she heard an irritated growl and felt the beast move before she fell of and hit the heated ground. The heat from above was a soft wind compared to the heat she felt in the cavern bellow due to the fact that the majority of the room was lava, surrounded by a ring of land she and the giant dodongo could easily walk on. She got up and wiped the sweat off her brow before she heard another low growl from behind her. She turned towards the growl to see the giant dodongo glaring at her and as if on instinct she drew her sword and the Deku shield as Navi comes to her side, "We found the king dodongo."

Zelda nods before they feel the dodongo's roar trying to blow them back, "and he's mad!"

The king dodongo then charged Zelda in rage, to which Zelda ran away as she was unsure what to do. Navi flew beside her as she ran, "Why are you running! You know how to beat this thing! It's just a big dodongo!"

Zelda realized Navi was right and quickly took out a bomb, "Then light them up as they come out!"

Navi nodded before Zelda stopped, turned around and put the bomb over her head as if she was about to throw it. Navi touched the string of the bomb and the string ignited. As Navi was lighting the string, the king dodongo stopped and inhaled, preparing to use it's fire breath. Zelda saw this as the opportunity to throw the bomb and did so. The king dodongo swallow the bomb and felt it explode in it's stomach causing it shock and fell down in a daze, not sure how much it had been damaged. Zelda used this opportunity to run up to the king dodongo and slash it, not doing much damage as she had hoped; after a couple of slashes the king dodongo stood up and curled itself into a ball and started to roll towards Zelda. Zelda saw this and moved to the side, out of the way of the rolling dodongo, which then rolled into a wall, now aware that it missed it's target. It turned around after it hit the wall, taking no damage, and charged towards her. Zelda then ran away again and got out a bomb, "Here we go again!"

Navi lit the string and Zelda stood firmly in place, waiting for its mouth to open. The same thing as before happened until after the dodongo turned back to Zelda after it's rolling stopped. It roared and then charged at her, to which Zelda ran away again until she took out a bomb, only this time she tripped on a rock and the bomb she was going to use rolled away from her. Navi noticed this and gasped, "Zelda! Get up now!"

Zelda heard the rumbling stop behind her and felt a shadow over her. She turned over to see the king dodongo looking down on her, licking it's lips; Zelda now feared the worst. She saw the king dodongo's jaw closing in on her so she got out the deku shield and attempted to use it as a pry, but all it did was give the king dodongo something other than Zelda to latch onto; the king dodongo closed it's teeth past the deku shield onto Zelda's hands, tearing off skin from the sides as they were luckily not pierced. Zelda screamed in pain before she let go when the dodongo opened it's mouth again to toss the shield up and swallow it, which was intended for it's owner. Zelda landed on the ground, trying not to think of the pain in her hands. Navi then tried to get her to move, "Zelda! WATCH OUT!"

Zelda looked up to see the king dodongo attempting the same thing again, but Zelda took out a bomb instead of her sword before the jaws drew in and covered her. Navi cried her companion's name in fright before she saw Zelda hanging onto the king dodongo's teeth with one arm and the bomb in the other. Zelda was looked straight at Navi, frightened. Navi quickly realized what Zelda wanted her to do and quickly flew into the king dodongo's mouth and lit the bomb. Zelda let go of the bomb and watched as it went down the king dodongo's throat, as she soon would if she didn't hang on. Zelda noticed the jaws of the king dodongo closing in dismay, was it the end? The bomb disrupted her thoughts, the force of it throwing Zelda out of the king dodongo's mouth and into a nearby stonewall. Her back, head, and hands were bleeding and her eyesight was fading, her last sight was the dodongo falling to the ground with eyes closed and Navi flying up to her crying out her name in extreme worry.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Sworn Sibling**

Honro ran as soon as he saw the King Dodongo roar, he ran all the way back to the city, screaming. Many of the gorons looked in question as Honro ran into the city and towards Darunia's chamber. Darunia did not like this noise, "What's with all the noise!"

Honro finally stopped screaming in order to stop in front of Darunia and explain, "The hylian girl's in Dodongo's Cavern and she's facing the king dodongo!"

Darunia burst into laugher, "That kid couldn't even beat the creatures at the bottom of the mountain!"

Honro then yelled in rage, "It's true! She's going to die if we don't help her! She's risking her life, you've got to help!"

Darunia looked over Honro for a second and realized he was telling the truth, "I'll send a few warriors in with you. This better not be a lie!"

Honro nodded as he heard the footsteps of three warriors come behind him. He turned to them and quickly lead them back to the cavern, "She's deep inside! We have to hurry!"

Honro and the warriors curled themselves into balls of rocked and rolled into the cave with tremendous speeds. They came across the hole in less than a minute. They heard nothing in the hole, but one of the warrior's jumped down to see the king dodongo on the cavern floor, unmoving. The warrior also saw a blue light near an unconscious hylian girl. The blue light, which was revealed to be a fairy, came up to the goron and spoke in worry, "Please! She won't wake up! She needs help!"

The warrior walked over towards the hylian girl and saw blood slowly pour out of her head and back where they currently rested against the rock. The warrior heard his other three companions land in the cavern, and the patter for Honro's feet coming up to him and the hylian girl. Honro looked at the girl in worry then turned to the fairy, "What happened?"

The fairy still was in worry, "She beat the king dodongo! But she used the last bomb when she was inside its mouth and it ejected her from its mouth and onto this wall!"

Honro was shocked; the hylian girl was quite resourceful and daring. He nodded to the warrior beside him and the warrior gently picked up the unconscious girl and hung her over his shoulder. Another one of the warriors took up Zelda's backpack. The team exited the cave to see Darunia waiting for them along with half of the city. The goron holding Zelda, now bridal style, presented the unconscious girl to Darunia and explained what happened. The fairy assisted with details she did not tell before. Darunia was in shock that a small hylian girl could stand up to a king dodongo and survive at the end, "This girl is a hero!"

The gorons around them all cheered as the hero was taken back up the mountain to tend to her wounds and wait for her to wake.

Zelda dreamed during this time, she saw flashes of very different places. She saw a vast sea of sand, wind carrying sand so that visibility was low. She saw a vast lake with ruins at the edge and small islands within the lake. She saw a red dragon-esque creature jet up from a geyser of lava. She saw ruins that were covered in leaves, dust, and vines. Then, she saw the same dream she's seen many times before, but this time the figure that was always blurred was finally revealed; it was Gallendora.

Zelda woke up with a startle, as she always does when she has that dream. She calmed herself down and looked around the stone room she was in. Other than the bed she was laying on, there was no furniture. She then noticed a small goron at her bedside, sleeping, undisturbed by her startle. She then quietly pieced together what happened; she defeated the king dodongo, then she was brought here. She looked over herself to see in there were any bandages; none were on her body anywhere, it was as if she was healed by magic.

After she finished looking over herself, she heard a yawn from the goron next to her, it lifted it's head up and looked at her; it was Honro! He at first didn't seem to care, but after a few seconds he fully awakened and gasped, "You're awake!"

Zelda smiled, "Yea, I'm awake. Where am I?"

Honro calmed down and explained, "You're back in the city! Everyone's been waiting for you to wake up!"

Zelda was confused, "All I remember is my bomb exploded and I was thrown against something… then nothing."

Honro smiled, excited to tell the tale, "Well, I ran away when the king dodongo roared, but I knew you'd need help so I ran back here, convinced Darunia to allow some warriors to come with me and we rescued you! But you didn't need our help, you defeated the king dodongo all by yourself! You were injured pretty badly too, so we took you to the great fairy!"

Zelda blinked, "The great fairy?"

Honro nodded, "Yea, she lives near the top of the volcano, and Darunia said she could heal your wounds. Sure enough she did, you became as good as new! So we put you in this room so you could rest, you've been unconscious for two days!"

Zelda's eyes widened, "Two days?"

Zelda immediately thought this was bad, Gallendora could have made her move already and she didn't even have the Sacred Stone from Darunia! Honro saw the shock in her face, "You ok?"  
Zelda blinked, disturbing her thoughts, "Y-yea! It's just… I hope that I can gather the Sacred Stones before it's too late."

Honro decided not to ask, "Well anyway come on!"

Honro then pulled Zelda out of bed and started to lead her out of the room, "Everyone's been waiting for you!"

Honro led the confused Zelda out off the room and into the center of the city. Many gorons on the way looked at Zelda with either awe or respect as she passed them by. This confused Zelda even more, she even felt nervous from all the gorons gazing at her. When they reached the center of the city Honro let go of Zelda's hand, "Wait here, I'll tell Darunia you're up!"

Zelda was left in the center of the city with many gorons closing in around her, until Darunia came out of his chamber along with Honro, who went into the crowd. Darunia approached Zelda with his arms behind his back and a serious look on his face, which turned to a grin, "Thanks to you we can once again eat the delicious rocks from the Dodongo's Cavern! To think all of this was caused by that Gerudo thief, Gallendora!"

Zelda's eyes widened for a second, realizing this all really was Gallendora's fault! Darunia continued, "She demanded the spiritual stone in exchange for opening the cavern. You on the other hand, risked your life for us!"

The gorons around them cheered after this was said, some holding up some rocks from the cavern. Darunia then patted Zelda, making her fall and quickly stand up as Darunia continued speaking, "I like you kid, how's about you and I become Sworn Siblings? No big ceremony involved!"

Darunia then revealed what he was holding behind his back, the Goron Ruby! Zelda eyed the stone in shock as Darunia spoke again, "Just take this as a token of our friendship and thanks!"

Zelda looked up at Darunia, unsure if she really was allowed to take the Ruby. Darunia nodded, signaling that she indeed was allowed to take it. Zelda smiled as she grasped the Ruby, covered in gold in a different way than the Kokiri Emerald. She raised the stone above her head, causing the gorons to once again cheer for their new sister. Honro came up to her an smiled, "Looks like I'll be calling you little sister from now on!"

Zelda was not amused, "I'm probably older than you!"

Darunia broke the fighting before it started, "Now, now. You two are siblings now. But Zelda… that is your name right?"

Zelda nodded, to which Darunia continued, "You should probably go thank the Great Fairy of Power for healing you."

Zelda then blinked, "I probably should."

Honro realized something, "But wait, she'd have to use the aboveground route because she can't stand the heat of the volcano!"

Darunia shook his head; "We've been developing a cloth that can help Hylians stand the heat we can for some time now. It's not finished…. And it'll be big on her, but she can use it to get up there."

Zelda was in awe, "I'll bring it back for sure."

Darunia and the other gorons dispersed from the middle of the city, each for their own reasons. Zelda decided to wait, thinking that Darunia was getting the tunic he spoke of. As she waited, Zelda realized something and looked around, "Speaking for fairies… where's Navi?"

Honro, who still remained, smiled, "Don't worry, she's with the Great Fairy."

This made Zelda feel better, knowing where Navi was, she couldn't wait to see her again.

After a few minutes Darunia came back with the tunic he mentioned and said Zelda could keep it for when she'd come back and visit them. Zelda nodded, quickly put the tunic over her own, and followed Honro through a volcanic path to the Great Fairy. The Great Fairy was inside a fountain that rested inside a cave at the top of the volcano. Stone torches were lit at each side of the fountain, giving a soft glow in the reflection of the water. Zelda approached the fountain, confused as to where the Great Fairy was, but as she approached the fountain she heard a joyous laugh. As if from thin air, the Great Fairy appeared, hovering over the fountain, "Welcome again, young one. I see you have come despite you have no wounds. Are you perhaps here to thank me for healing you?"  
Zelda stiffened up and nodded, "Y-yes ma'am!"

The Great Fairy chuckled, "Relax, child. I'm glad you came this way. In fact I believe I have something that may help you in your journey."

Zelda was confused, but the Great Fairy beckoned her closer as she lowered herself to seem as if she stood on top of the water. Zelda stood at the edge of the fountain and saw the Great Fairy create something in a ball of light. As quickly as the light appeared, it disappeared and revealed a scroll, "Take it. It is a scroll for a sword technique."

Zelda nodded and took the scroll, "Thank you."

The Great Fairy floated up to her original spot, "Before you go, I believe you should wake your companion."

The Great Fairy motioned towards the side of the fountain, near one of the torches, and Zelda saw Navi there, sleeping peacefully. With that the Great Fairy disappeared, much to Zelda's confusion. She then poked Navi, hoping she'd wake up, "Navi."

Navi stirred and slowly opened her eyes, letting out a gasp, "Zelda! You're awake! Oh how long have I been asleep? And what are you wearing?"

Zelda shrugged, "I don't know, but Honro told me I was asleep for two days, and this is a tunic that suppose to have me stand the heat gorons can."

Navi then mused, "I guess I just slept for the night, but anyway! Did you get the stone?"

Zelda pulled the Goron Ruby from her backpack, making Navi smile, "Two down, and one to go."

Zelda nodded before she put the stone away, along with the scroll, and turned around, "Let's go then, to Zora's Domain, right?"

Navi then nodded and sat on Zelda's head, "Onward!"

Zelda then rushed out of the cave, only to stop as she saw an owl perched on a sign next to them. She and the owl locked eyes, confusing Zelda. Navi, however, was not amused, "Owls, never liked them."

The owl then hooted, flew up and grabbed Zelda's shoulders by its talons. This scared Zelda, as the owl seemed to pick her up into the air, "What's happening?"

Navi blinked, "I think it's giving us a lift down to Kakriko Village."

The owl dropped them off near the southern gate, hooting once again before it flew off back towards the volcano, taking the fire-resistant tunic with it. Zelda waved to it, "Bye mister owl!"

Navi groaned, "I hope that never happens again."

Zelda smiled and let out a small, amused laugh, "Let's get going. Follow the river, right?"

Navi spoke with confidence, "Yep! Soon we'll have the Zora Sapphire as well!"

Zelda started to walk down the path that lead back to Hyrule Field, "Then back to Prince Link!"

Navi and Zelda then spoke with confidence, "Then we'll defeat Gallendora!"

Both became shocked by Zelda's sudden boost of confidence, something that has been rarely seen in this adventure. Navi cracked a smile, knowing she was molding Zelda into the courageous hero she'd need to be.

It took nearly all day to get to the entrance of Zora's Domain, the sun hung in the sky at an angle that told evening was approaching. In front of Zelda and Navi, a raging waterfall blocked the only entrance Zelda could safely venture into. Navi had an idea, "What about the song?"

Zelda blinked before taking out Saria's Ocarina, "Okay, but I'm not sure it'll work."

Zelda then played Link's Lullaby and watched as the water seemed to split in order to show the entrance. Zelda did not know, or ask, how that happened; all she knew is that she finally could enter Zora's Domain.


End file.
